Don't Let Go
by AJ92
Summary: This is an AU with human 2k3 turtles. A brother, broken by the deaths of his wife and children and consumed by guilt. All he wants to do is give up and let go, but there is something keeping him here. When the Foot rears its head again to finish what they started, he'll find out what that something is.
1. Chapter 1

Here's another new story. This is probably a bad idea, but I'm going to do it anyway.

XXX

Chapter 1

Leo knelt down next to his brother's bed as he slept restlessly. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving him alone, not in this state. His little brother had become mentally and emotionally fragile over the past few years and he only seemed to get more detached from his family and even from reality as time went on. Now all Leo can try to do is protect his brother from the heartache he was already suffering from. Other than that, there isn't much he can do. Leo covered up his little brother with a blanket and sighed.

"Go away, Leo." Leo flinched when he heard his brother's voice. He was just sleeping a couple minutes ago. And his voice, Leo could never get used to it sounding so weak and gravelly. "Just let me be alone. I deserve to be alone."

Leo shook his head quickly. "Don't say that, bro. It's not true."

He sat up in bed, letting the blanket fall off his shoulders and stared directly into his older brother's grey eyes. "I couldn't protect them. What kind of person can't protect their own family?"

"You did all you could." Leo tried comforting him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

He pushed his hand off of his shoulder and broke eye contact, choosing to look at the floor instead. "And it wasn't enough. I would give anything to have them back, to hold them again, but that will never happen because I failed to protect them. " He laid back down and hid his face in his pillow. His shaking body was the only indication that he was sobbing. "I...I miss them, Leo."

"I know," Leo spoke softly, ignoring his own tears rolling down his cheeks. "I know you do." he sniffled. "... now get some rest. I'll be in the next room if you need me, okay?" The younger brother didn't respond. Leo sighed again and stood up as his brother tried drifting off to sleep.

Leo forced himself to leave the room before he actually broke down at the sight of his brother. He left the door open a crack in case a nightmare took hold of him, which they usually did. There's no stopping them, but at least he could be there for him. Even if he didn't want Leo there. Leo leaned up against the wall next to the door and slid to the floor as he sobbed silently. Remembering some of the good times he had once had, when his family was whole.

* * *

 _"Hi Uncle Leo!" a little boy came up to him smiling brightly._

 _"Hey, what's going on buddy?"_

 _"Do you think I'll be a good fighter like you and Dad?"_

 _Leo knelt down to meet the boy at eye level. "You sure can, but it's going to take practice."_

 _"Yeah, we'll fight all the bad guys." another boy looking exactly like the first came bounding toward them, pouncing on his twin brother._

 _Leo quickly corrected them. "Hey now, remember this doesn't mean you go out looking for someone to fight. You use your martial arts ability for self defense only, understand."_

 _"Yes, Uncle Leo." they replied in unison._

 _"Good, now go play." he gave them both an affectionate pat on the head before they ran off to go find their cousins._

* * *

Leo leaned his head back against the wall and shut his eyes, wishing that things would go back to the way they were and knowing full well that it wouldn't happen. He stayed there for what felt like hours, until he finally heard someone fiddling with the lock on the front door. It was most likely his wife and kids so he quickly got up off the floor and wiped the remainder of his tears away. Once the door opened he immediately greeted his family.

"Hey guys, how was school?" he said with a smile. A smile that everyone in the room knew wasn't real at this point. His family knew that most of the time it was forced.

"It was great. I got an A on my math test." Leo's eleven year old daughter, Kayla, answered as sincerely as possible. She had long black hair surrounding the fair complexion of her face. Freckles dotted her cheeks and sat underneath her blue eyes. She pushed a strand of her long black hair behind an ear and averted her eyes to the floor to keep from looking her father in the eye. She would never admit to it out loud, but she hated seeing him like this.

"That's great, sweetie." Leo responded.

Leo's thirteen year old son, Jayden, had fairly pale skin and smoky grey eyes that matched his father. Like his sister, he had black hair, but it was shorter and shaggier. He had his eyes locked on the door to his Uncle's room and wasn't paying much attention to the conversation going on. "How about you, Jayden?" Leo said bringing his attention back to him.

"Huh? Oh... yeah, it was fine." he answered quickly, fiddling with strands of his black hair that hung loosely in front of his face. "I'm gonna do my homework now." he grabbed his backpack and went to the coffee table. Kayla followed suit only she ran upstairs to her room.

Jenna sighed heavily, grabbed her husband by the hand and led him to their bedroom. Leo was kind of confused by the sudden actions, but followed her anyway. "What's wrong, hon?" Jenna asked once she shut the door behind them. She let her hair down from it's hair clip, letting the dark curls fall over her shoulders.

Leo turned away and said "Nothing."

Jenna dropped her hair clip on the vanity, walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his muscular frame in a comforting embrace. "I know something must've happened. I could see it in your eyes. Is he okay?"

He gave a sad chuckle and shook his head. "No, he's not." he raked his hand through his graying black hair and sighed again. It took all of his energy not to start crying again. "He's getting worse. I wish there was more I could do for him."

"You're doing all you can, my love, but don't worry," she moved around so her icy blue eyes met his his grey ones. "We'll get him through this... somehow." she tried.

"No," Leo shook his head sadly. He held her pale hands in his. "unless you can somehow bring back the dead. Then there's no mending his broken heart."

XXX

First chapter done.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Really quick, I just wanted to let you know that the first maybe four chapters are merely short intros to the characters.**

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Chapter 2

 _"Please, let me go." he begged as his brothers held him down. Leo quickly tossed the pill bottle off to the side."I can't do this anymore. Please, let go. Let me die. I'm begging you."_

The words replayed in Mikey's head over and over like a broken record. His big brother was begging for death. Never in his entire life did he ever think that he would see his brother so broken, so willing to give up. On the other hand Mikey couldn't really blame him. His wife and two sons were taken from him and it seemed to happen so fast. He remembered when he and his little twin nephews would just roughhouse, laugh and joke around with his daughter when they were younger. One twin always had the oddest habit, he smiled as he remembered.

* * *

 _"Jonah," Mikey asked when he saw the six year old sitting on the couch staring at nothing in particular and drinking from a juice box. "What are you staring at?"_

 _The child didn't answer, he just kept staring. Mikey shrugged and crouched down in front of him so he was at eye level and stared back. The child blinked a few times and cocked his head to the side, confused. He stopped drinking his juice and asked "What are you doing, Uncle Mikey?"_

 _Mikey shrugged. "You were staring, so I was staring right back."_

 _Jonah got up off the couch and walked away stating. "You're really weird."_

* * *

It was something so simple and yet it made him laugh. He always wondered what was going on in that head of his when stared off into space like that.

Mikey stared down at his hot chocolate in silence as he waited for his wife, Leilani, to return home with his son, Luke. Once they got home they would head over to Leo's house. He made it a habit to go down there at least three times a week to be there for him and to help Leo with the care taking. He sighed and raked a hand through his blonde hair out of habit. "I think I feel a headache coming on."

"Need some aspirin, Daddy?" a female voice asked.

Mikey looked to the sweet, innocent face of his daughter, Nicole, and gave her a sad smile. "Thanks princess." She held out the bottle to him and sat down at the table with him. He took the pills along with a gulp of his hot chocolate then sighed. "You know, you don't have to come with me to see your uncle every time." he wasn't exactly sure why he decided to bring that up now, but he just hated that his kids had to go through this along with him.

Nicole sighed and began fiddling with a strand of the curly blonde hair that escaped from her ponytail. "Well, I've thought about not showing up, but I can't really bring myself to do it." she looked up and her brown eyes met with her father's blue ones. "Whenever I think about trying to avoid him, I just remember how much fun he used to be and how he would be there for us if we needed him. Now, I feel like he needs us... all of us to be there for him." she scratched the back of her head before continuing. "Yes, it does get kind of depressing to see him like that, but..." she paused not really knowing how to finish that sentence.

Mikey placed a hand on top of her head "I get it."

"Sorry, I kind of rambled, didn't I?" she asked, slightly embarrassed.

"It's okay, I know what you were trying to say. And I appreciate it."

He then heard the door opening followed by a very excited voice. "Dad, Dad, Dad." a young boy called as he ran into the kitchen holding a piece of paper in his hand. Young, slightly tanned skin, round blue eyes and mousey brown hair hung loose around his head.

He was followed by Leilani, who stood in the doorway and waited. "Luke has something to show you, babe." she was a Hawaiian native with tanned skin, long, lustrous brown hair and brown eyes to match. She kept a pink artificial hibiscus flower in her hair to keep that island look about her. She was always a happy person, but when the incident with Mikey's brother happened she couldn't really keep all that happiness going.

"What's up, little man? What do you have for me." Mikey turned to Luke, who was still bouncing slightly in excitement. His brown locks bouncing as well.

"Look at what I drew." Luke pretty much shoved the piece of paper he was holding in his hand into his face.

Mikey took it and got a good look at it. It was pretty messy, which was natural considering the artist was only ten years old, but you could tell it was a drawing of his older brother holding a hand of two children that he assumed were his sons. Mikey smiled "Is this for your uncle, Luke?"

He nodded excitedly "Maybe it'll make him feel better."

"Thanks Luke, I'm sure he'll love it." he gave his son a smile. He just loved that his son voluntarily took the job of trying to cheer everyone up. "So are we all ready to go?"

"I believe we are." Leilani spoke up from the doorway.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go." Luke cheered already halfway to the front door.

Nicole laughed at her little brother's antics. "Hey, wait up." she said as she caught up with him.

"Shall we go then." Leilani said.

Mikey shut his eyes for a second. "Yeah, let's." with that they headed out.

XXX

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	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, time to find out which brother it is, if you were actually trying to guess, that is.**

* * *

Chapter 3

Standing on the stoop of Leo's home, was Don, his wife Stephanie and his two sons, fifteen year old Warren and twelve year old Ethan. Stephanie had brown skin and dark brown eyes. Her dark brown hair was in long, tight twists on her head. Stephanie was a childhood friend of the brothers so when Raph fell apart, Mikey, Don and Leo weren't the only ones heavily affected by it.

Donnie knocked and waited. Seconds later Jayden answered. "Hey Uncle Don, Aunt Stephanie, come on in." he greeted solemnly and moved out of the way to make room.

Once the family of four was inside, Warren immediately sat down on the couch while Ethan went to go find his Aunt and Uncle in the kitchen. Don and Steph noticed something off about their young nephew.

"Jayden, are you alright?" Stephanie asked.

Jayden yawned and rubbed his eyes "I'm fine."

"You look exhausted." Don said "You sure you're alright."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved it off. "I'm okay."

"When was the last time you got a decent amount of sleep?" Don asked. "I'm worried about you."

"Well stop it, okay. I'm not the one you need to be worried about." Jayden snapped. "I've got homework to finish up now." he walked back to the coffee table where he left papers strewn about. Don and Steph gave each other a look and shrugged before heading to the kitchen to talk to Leo.

Ethan and Warren walked over to Jayden at the coffee table. "Need any help, cuz." Warren asked sitting down next to Jayden. Warren had much darker skin than Jayden with deep green eyes. He had purple tipped dreadlocks reaching just under his upper back, pulled back in a ponytail. Ethan sat on the other side of him with a lighter tint to his skin, compared to his older brother. Short, spiked, dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Both were fortunate enough to gain their father's smarts.

Jayden looked up to his older cousin and shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" he questioned, curiously.

"What is with the third degree from everyone?" Jayden snapped. "I said I'm fine. Nothing's wrong."

"Jayden..." Ethan spoke softly, realizing that his cousin was a bit off topic. "he just wanted to know if you wanted help with your homework."

Jayden exhaled softly and looked up at his older cousin. Warren merely raised an eyebrow at him "Sorry..."

Warren gave him a sypathetic smile. He knew how hard this was for everyone, especially Jayden. Ever since they were younger Jayden always considered Raph to be his "favorite uncle." And he always spent so much time with Raph's twin sons. When the incident happened, naturally Jayden asked a bunch of questions. Trying to explain to a kid that he would never see them again and that Raph won't be the same anymore was one of the most difficult things his parents had to say to him. Even then, Warren knew that they didn't tell him the whole truth. "It's okay, cuz. You want help now?"

"Yeah, I just really need a little help focusing."

"Don't worry, I got you."

* * *

"Hey Don, hey Steph." Leo greeted when Don and Stephanie.

"Hey, how is he?" Stephanie asked.

"I think he's getting worse." Leo responded with a shake of his head. "He hardly gets out of bed for anything, he barely eats, he hardly talks. When he does decide to talk to me, it's only so he can tell me to go away."

"I should go check on him." Don offered heading to Raph's room.

"Try not to wake him, this is the longest he's slept in a long time."

Don nodded his head before entering the room. It was completely dark inside, Raph was facing away from him, curled up in ball. He moved to the other side of the bed and turned on the bedside lamp revealing his brother's face. He winced when he saw Raph stir slightly, but he didn't wake up. Slowly he peeled the blanket away looking over his thinning body, a result of his lack of nutrition. Most of his muscle build was gone too since he refuses to get out of bed. Every time Don checks him over it always worried him. It's not healthy for him to stay in bed all the time, but after his loss, Raph felt like there was nothing more he had to live for. He felt responsible for what happened. He hasn't been able to forgive himself and Don wasn't sure if he ever would.

He covered him back up and stood. "Don..." Raph rasped. Don looked down to see that his older brother was awake and staring up at him.

"Hey Raph," Don spoke gently "Sorry, did I wake you?"

Sad, dull amber eyes met with sympathetic hazel ones for a brief moment before staring back out the window with a blank stare. He shook his head. Don knelt down beside the bed. "Then what is it?"

"Why are you here?" he asked.

Don swallowed back a lump in his throat "Raph..."

"What do you want?"

"I'm just checking on you."

"Don't..." Raph stated simply. "Just leave me alone."

Don shook his head. "Raph, you know I can't do that. You're my brother and we have to take care of each other." Don watched as his brother's glazed over expression seemed to aim toward a random corner of the room. "Now go back to sleep."

Raph's eyes snapped back to meet Don's gaze. "I wasn't sleeping."

Don was confused when he heard this. "Why weren't you...?"

"The nightmares." was all he could say and Don immediately understood.

"I'm sorry, Raph."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. It's not like you failed to protect your family. This is payback for failing to be a father and a husband."

"Raph..."

"Go, Don, go be with them."

"You're my family, too."

"But they're more important, they need you."

"So do you. You're my brother, we've been looking out for each other since we were kids. Nothing will change that."

Raph's eyes went right back to the corner of the room. Anything to avoid that pitiful look his brother was giving him. "... Go, Don."

With a heavy sigh, Don stood and headed for the door.

"Did he wake up?" Leo asked him once he was out of the room.

"He told me he wasn't sleeping to begin with. Leo, I'm worried. He's not getting enough sleep..." he paused. "Because he's afraid to go to sleep." Don explained. "He said he's still having nightmares."

Leo sighed heavily "I figured as much."

There was another knock at the door and Leo went to go answer it.

Don looked back at the door to Raph's room. 'I wish there was a way that I could help you bear your burden, bro.'

* * *

 **So sorry Jenasisity, but you were wrong.**

 **Read and Review**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi everybody, I hope you're all enjoying this so far.**

XXX

Chapter 4

 _Failure._

"Quiet." Raph mumbled into his pillow.

 _You're useless._

"Please, leave me alone." he felt a tear roll down his cheek as the voices in his head continued.

 _You failed them._

"Please... stop." he cried quietly. He couldn't be any louder or he would alert his brothers. They weren't aware of the voices in his head.

 _You deserve to die._

His tears seemed to instantly dry up when he heard that "... I know." he definitely couldn't deny that. He wouldn't deny it. He wants nothing more than to leave this world, leave the place where he lost the love of his life, Olivia and his twin boys, Aiden and Jonah.

Raph's dull amber eyes moved up to one of the framed photos of them at one of their family get-togethers. Olivia was perfect for him. She had soft, tanned skin and these piercing green eyes that sometimes even scared Raph. Her thick black hair surrounded her oval shaped face. She was a tough girl, had a spunky attitude and never backed down from him when others would. It was definitely a trait that could get annoying, but it also attracted him to her. His sons, his innocent, little boys were only six years old when they were taken away. He reached up and traced a finger over the photo. "I'm sorry." he mumbled. None of this would've happened if he only had expected the unexpected. He had gotten too comfortable with his life, let his guard down and that led to his downfall.

 _Raph had just pulled up in front of his home after a long day. It was getting late and the streets and sidewalks were empty. He stepped out of the car and moved to open the back door, just as his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He didn't answer, he would call whoever it was back when he got inside._

 _"Come on, you two." he said. Two tanned skinned boys hopped out the backseat and ran to the front door. They were identical twins, both with short, chestnut brown hair neatly combed back by their mother before their day started. They had bright, amber eyes that seemed to sparkle with joy. The only way you could tell the difference between them was by the heart shaped birthmark on Jonah's upper bicep. Raph followed them up to the front door. He stuck the key in the lock and turned it, letting the little balls of energy inside._

 _"Dad, look at this." Aiden happily pulled a new item out of his backpack to show to his father. It was one of those clips that kids hook onto their backpacks. His was round and had a detailed green dragon etched into it. "A lady made it for me at school today. Isn't it cool?"_

 _"Yes, it's very cool. Do you want to put it on your book bag?" he offered._

 _Aiden took another quick glance at it and said "No, not yet."_

 _Raph shrugged then chuckled. "Okay then."_

 _"Dad, can we stay up later, today?" Jonah asked innocently._

 _"No, you've got school in the morning."_

 _"Please." they both begged, giving Raph their best puppy dog eyes._

 _Raph groaned, he was not resistant to that look. "Fine, but only an hour and don't tell your mother."_

 _The twin boys excitedly ran to the TV and turned it on. Raph smiled and shook his head. His phone rang again and this time he answered it. "Yo."_

 _"Raph!" it was Leo and he sounded panicked. "I was trying to get a hold of you."_

 _"Leo? What's up?" he asked now feeling slightly panicked as well._

 _"Where are you?" Leo ignored his brother's question and instead asked another question._

 _"The boys and I just got home." Raph answered. "What's going on, Leo?"_

 _"It's the Foot, they're..." that was the only thing Raph heard before a loud crash made him turn his attention to the window and front door. The twins screamed in terror and ran to hide as the strangers broke into their home. The Foot had busted their way in and before Raph could react they attacked. Raph didn't have his weapons, he was outnumbered and outmatched. Nothing could stop this beat down. All he could do was try to fight and listen to his sons cry as they were forced to watch their father get overwhelmed. One of them struck Raph on the head with a blunt object. His world turned black as he lost consciousness._

 _He woke to panic-stricken voices and someone shaking his shoulder. "Raph, wake up?" it sounded like Leo._

 _"Babe, open your eyes." a tear-filled voice begged. That sounded like Olivia. "Please."_

 _He finally opened them to see the faces of his brothers, who were all holding their weapons, and his wife. "Dude, are you okay?" Mikey asked worried. He sat up and rubbed his head. There was a nasty lump back there and some bruises on his body, but other than that he felt okay._

 _"Yeah, I think so." he groaned. Just then Olivia wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug and sobbed. Raph hugged her back. "What's going on?" everything that happened seemed to be a blur._

 _"The Foot, they caught us while our guard was down." Don explained. "We had to go into hiding underground in the lair, and we had to find you."_

 _Realization dawned on him as the previous events came back to him. He became visibly shaken when he noticed two people were missing. "Where's Aiden and Jonah?" he heard Olivia's sobs get louder and looked back up to his brothers "Guys?"_

 _It took a while before someone finally spoke up. "I'm sorry, Raph. They're not here." Leo said sadly. "And we've looked all over the house. We think the Foot took them."_

 _Raph's breathing became shorter and more ragged when he heard that. He stood up as quickly as he could. "What?" he shook his head and ran upstairs._

 _"Raph...?" Leo started up the stairs after him. He found Raph in his bedroom searching around in his closet._

 _"Raph, we've already looked in there." Leo sighed._

 _"I know, I believe you." Raph finally found what he was looking for, a metal box. "That's why I'm going to go look for them." he opened it and pulled out his twin sai. "Get Olivia to the lair." he started to walk by his older brother, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder._

 _"You can't go by yourself."_

 _"Help if you want, I don't care, but right now I'm trusting you to get my wife to safety while I start looking." Raph headed back downstairs, where everyone else was still waiting._

 _"Raph, hold on. We'll all go together."_

 _"I don't have time for that." he nearly yelled. "They were my responsibility, I was supposed to watch them, I was supposed to protect them and because I couldn't do that, they've been taken. I can't wait." he looked to Olivia and saw the tears that were still streaming down her face. He turned away from her and tightened his grip on his sais. That look she was giving him, he didn't like it. "Go with them, Liv." He quickly ran out before anyone could stop him._

 _Months went by with no signs of where they might be. He saw plenty of ninja and when he found them he was anything, but gentle with questioning. Some even met the unfortunate end of his sai. He was ruthless in his search for his sons. He looked everywhere, even taking a chance searching through Saki's tower alone, turned out to be a bust. The clues that he did manage to get would usually lead to a dead end. They were toying with him. His brothers would help him, but whenever they would call it a night, Raph would continue looking. Searching until dawn when the city started bustling with life. He would stay out longer and search harder. He practically ran himself ragged._

 _When he did get back to the lair. He would see his brother's children, they would ask him where Aiden and Jonah were and that would only frustrate him more since he couldn't give them a real answer besides "I don't know." Little Jayden and Warren were the most persistent out of all of them considering they were the closest to the twins. The worst part of it all for Raph was having to face Olivia when he got back from searching. Raph had convinced himself that she was blaming him for what happened so he couldn't look at her._

 _About a month later, the worse thing happened. One night after listening to Olivia cry herself to sleep again. He made the decision to continue his search on his own. He made sure she was asleep, got up out of bed, got dressed, grabbed his weapons and headed out. When he got topside it was raining cats and dogs, but that wasn't going to stop him. Within seconds, his clothes were soaked through and his brown hair stuck to the sides of his face. He started his search by looking in every alleyway for any signs of the black clad ninjas. Little did he know, he was being followed._

 _"Raph?" a voice called._

 _He turned to see Olivia standing there staring at him. She was soaked and out of breath from trying to keep up with him, she didn't even bother to change out of her pajamas. "Liv, what are you doing out here?" he asked immediately turning away from her._

 _"I'm here to tell you to come back to the lair. You've searched enough for tonight." she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him._

 _"No," he gently pushed her away. "I can't rest until I find them."_

 _"But you're no good to them if you're exhausted. You need to rest."_

 _"Every second I waste, they could be getting further away or they could be getting hurt. I can't waste time." he turned away from her. "And I can't stand seeing you cry anymore. Go back to the lair, where it's safe." he started to walk away._

 _"I don't blame you." she said suddenly causing him to freeze in place. "I really don't."_

 _"Well... at least one of us doesn't. Just go back, I'll be there soon."_

 _She slowly approached him. "Please Raph, just..." she was cut off when a ninja landed right in front of her. She gasped getting Raph's attention. He turned just in time to see the Foot ninja run her through with his sword._

 _He felt numb in that moment, he felt his blood run cold and everything seemed to move in slow motion. He watched as the ninja withdrew the sword from her body, watched her crumple to the floor and he let out an enraged yell as he sprinted toward the lone ninja. The Foot soldier turned and caught a fist to the face. Once he was on the floor, Raph stood over him and plunged the sai deep into his chest. He repeated the same action again and again his anguished yells getting louder as he punctured more holes into the now dead body. Blood was everywhere._

 _When he finally stopped he made his way over to Olivia. He cradled her in his arms as she coughed up blood and gasped for air. "Liv," he spoke gently to her. "Just hold on, I'm gonna get you some help." He took his phone out and quickly dialed Leo's number._

 _"Raph?" Leo answered sleepily._

 _"Leo, I need you to get down here." he knew he was crying, but there was no telling the difference between his tears and the rain running down his face._

 _"What?" Leo wasn't fully awake yet._

 _"Please, Olivia is hurt and she needs help. Please hurry." he begged._

 _He seemed to wake up when he heard that. "Yeah, I'll be right there." Raph quickly told him where he was then hung up. He looked back down at his suffering wife. He did all he could to try and keep her alive, but when he looked in her pain filled eyes and as he was forced to watch her cough up more of that much needed blood, he knew he was only delaying the inevitable._

 _His brothers never made it in time. They found them in an alley. Raph was cradling Olivia's lifeless corpse close, hiding his crying face in the crook of her neck. He was holding her hand tightly as if it would somehow bring her back. Begging, pleading for her to come back and that he needed her._

 _At the funeral, he showed the first signs of breaking down. He spent hours knelt down near her grave, just staring at the tombstone. Eventually his brothers had to step in to provide some sort of comfort to their distraught kin. They all knelt down near him. They didn't say anything, which was great because Raph really didn't want to hear what they had to say._

 _Raph must have stayed there for at least an hour before he finally spoke. "I have to find them." he muttered wiping away the remainder of his tears._

 _"We know Raph, and we will." Mikey reassured._

 _A few more months passed as their search continued. Raph was becoming more desperate by the day. He had to find them, he had to believe that they were okay. It was the only shred of hope he had to hold onto. The Foot appearances seemed to be dwindling after a while and Raph was starting to get worried._

 _They did manage to find a small group of ninjas on a rooftop, there were about five of them all gathered around. One of them was holding onto a fairly large bag. The brothers decided to keep out of their direct line of sight._

 _"What do you think they're talking about?" Don asked._

 _"Who cares?" Raph muttered "I'm going over there."_

 _"Wait, Raph" Leo grabbed onto his shoulder. "If we follow them then they might lead us to the rest and to your sons."_

 _Raph hesitantly hung back with his brothers and waited for them to start moving. After a few minutes the Foot soldiers took off along the rooftops. "They're moving." Raph took off after them. He could tell that his brothers were right behind him. After running a couple blocks, they noticed that they were heading in a direction that was pretty familiar._

 _"Guys, where the hell are they going?" Mikey asked._

 _"No idea, but I've got a bad feeling." Leo said._

 _When Raph heard that, he moved even faster still managing to keep up with them. Eventually they came to a stop on the roof of... "My place?" Raph questioned completely confused by the whole thing._

 _"Why would they stop here?"_

 _"Maybe they want to try and finish me off." Raph said as he glared daggers toward them._

 _The one holding the large bag, placed it on the rooftop. "It looks like this is where they are making their actual stop." Don said._

 _"Then let's go." Raph sprinted towards them with his brothers right behind him. The brothers made quick work of them. One was kicked off the roof and two managed to get away._

 _"They seemed to be in a real hurry to get out of here." Mikey noticed._

 _"Doesn't matter, we still have a couple of them here. Check the bag." Raph stormed over to one of the ninjas who wasn't completely unconscious and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform. He could hear his brothers fussing with the bag."Why did you come here?" he questioned._

 _The barely conscious ninja only pointed to the towards the bag before passing out. He dropped the body with a growl and turned toward his brothers, but something seemed off. Mikey had turned away from them and was covering his face with his hands. Leo was already trying to seal the bag back up. Don had stood up and stopped in front of Raph to prevent him from coming any closer. "Raph, hold on, I don't think you need to see that."_

 _Raph tried shoving his younger brother aside, but he stood firmly in place. "Outta the way, Don."_

 _"I'm serious, Raphael." he placed both hands on his shoulders._

 _Raph ignored his little brother. "Leo, what's in the bag?"_

 _The only response he received from him didn't come from his mouth, but from his body language. Leo was facing away from him and his shoulders noticeably tensed. He looked over to Mikey and he could see that he was visibly shaken by what he saw. He looked Don in the eye and noticed that his hazel eyes were brimming with un-shed tears as he continued to hold him back. "What is in the bag?" he growled as fear and worry started to set in._

 _Leo's shoulders slumped. "Let him go, Don." he ordered._

 _"But Leo..." Don started to argue._

 _"Just" Leo interrupted then let out a sad sigh. "let him go."_

 _Don hesitantly stood aside. He really didn't want him to see the contents of that bag. Raph marched up toward Leo, getting more worried as he got closer. When he finally got there and saw what was inside, his stomach turned, he felt like he was going to be sick. He felt like he could no longer stand as he fell to his knees because inside were two burned bodies. They were small children and their bodies were charred beyond recognition. Lying on top of the bodies was a clip, with a green dragon drawn on it. He picked it up and examined it. Some of the plastic was melted off, but he could tell it was the same one that belonged to..._

" _Aiden." he whispered. That did it, Raph's breathing became very shallow. "No... no, not them." he mumbled. "Please, no."_

 _Leo placed a hand on his shoulder. "Raph, I'm so sorry." his voice cracked as he tried to comfort him, but how do you comfort someone in this state? What do you say after everything that has happened?_

 _Raph wasn't really hearing anything anyway aside from his own breathing. "Please... I can't...not them." he turned to Leo. "Why? Why is this happening?" he asked as he finally let his tears fall._

 _"I-I don't know, Raph, but..." he heard one of the Foot ninjas begin to stir._

 _Raph's eyes snapped up to look at him and before anyone could stop him, he pounced on him and wrapped his hands tightly around the ninja's throat. "You bastards, you took my wife, you took my kids. I will fucking kill all of you." he squeezed tighter._

 _"Raph, no." Don attempted to pull him off the struggling ninja. "Don't do this."_

 _"I don't care. I already have their blood on my hands, I can add more." he starting to sound more unhinged the more he spoke. It took the efforts of all three of his brothers to finally get him off. They had to drag him away from the unconscious body "No, let go." he screamed as he tried to fight out of his brothers' grip, but to no avail. Just then, he let out a yell. A mournful yell for his family, one that broke his brothers' hearts when they heard it. Eventually he slumped against his eldest brother and sobbed. Leo just embraced him, that was all he could do. He looked to Don and Mikey and they looked pretty lost on what to do because the only shred of hope Raph had left was now gone._

Raph withdrew his arm back under the blanket and wrapped his arms around his stomach as the memories flooded his mind. He was vaguely aware of the door opening behind him. Whoever it was he just wanted them to go away.

"Um... Uncle Raph?" he sounded young. One of his nephews, most likely. He's never been able to resist the presence of one of the kids. "You awake?" he asked, unsure.

Raph sighed. "...Yes."

The sudden excited footfalls led him to guess that it was Mikey's son. Sure enough, a couple seconds later, Luke's smiling face popped up in front of him. Once he saw his uncle's face, his smile turned upside down. "I... um..." Luke was holding onto a piece of paper.

"What is it?" Raph deadpanned.

"Uh..." Raph noticed Luke was not so subtly staring over his shoulder toward the door. His father must be standing in the doorway. "Here." the child said suddenly, holding the sheet out to him.

Raph gently took it away from him and stared at it.

"I drew it... at school." Luke explained. "It's you and..." he suddenly looked embarrassed when Raph didn't say anything. "I'm sorry, if you don't like it. I'll... I'll go." he turned to run away, but Raph caught his wrist.

Forcing himself to sit up, he pulled his young nephew into a hug, wrapping his withering arms around him. "Thank you." Raph whispered, shaking slightly as a sob escaped him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Luke said, nervously wrapping his small arms around him. They pulled apart and Luke went to leave the room... very hesitantly. Once he was gone, he laid back down and held the drawing close to his body.

XXX

 **Well, that was a long one, but now you know the full story and The Foot is involved.**

 **Hope you enjoy.**

 **Let me know how I'm doing.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to those that reviewed. I greatly appreciate it. I may not say it often, but I do.**

 **Even those that only read it. I still appreciate you.**

XXX

Chapter 5

Raph sat up and placed Luke's drawing in front of the framed photo of his family. He stood up and slowly shuffled out of the room. He felt eyes on him as he made his way to the bathroom. Once he was in, he shut the door, leaving it unlocked. After what happened last time, Leo and Jenna made a new rule; no locked doors. 'I was so close too _.'_ He thought bitterly.

He did his business and moved to the sink to wash his hands. Once that task was finished he looked up at the mirror. His pale face seemed to get paler as he stared at the hollow version of himself. His bright amber eyes looked dead and empty, his chestnut brown hair was turning gray. He just didn't feel like himself anymore. He let out a sad sigh.

 _Why are you even trying anymore?_

Raph squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples as the voice invaded his brain once again. He opened them again and stared at his reflection. _Look at you, you piece of shit. You're pathetic.'_

Raph's dull eyes grew wider. Did his reflection just talk to him? _You are a failure._ It hissed at him. Raph shook his head frantically and his reflection laughed. _Deny it all you want, but you know it's true._

Raph clamped his hands over his ears and continued to shake his head "No." he coughed out.

 _Oh... then I suppose good fathers let their sons, their own flesh and blood, get taken away and burned alive._

"I didn't mean it. I- I tried to find them."

 _Apparently you didn't try hard enough since they were killed. And what about Olivia? I thought you loved her._

 _"_ I do love her."

 _Ha, yeah right, if that was true then why isn't she here now._

"I didn't mean it. I wanted to protect her." he tried so hard to block out the voice, but it was relentless. He looked back at his reflection as it let out a sinister chuckle.

 _And now you're just laying around, mooching off your brother and his family all because_ _ **you**_ _failed. How long do you think they'll take care of your worthless ass._ _Face it, you're a failure as a father._

"No..."

 _As a husband._

"Shut up." Raph muttered.

 _And as a brother._

"I said shut up!" he yelled as he slammed his fist into the mirror.

…

"Hey little man." Mikey sat down next to his youngest child. "Are you alright?" Luke had been much quieter since he left Raph's room. Seeing his uncle like that kind of freaked him out.

"Yeah," the ten year old pulled his knees up to his chest. "I just want Uncle Raph to be okay now."

He patted his son's head. He knew that Luke wanted Raph to be happy because he's never seen him that way before. He was born shortly after the incident happened so this Raph is the only one he's ever known. "I know. I do too."

"Do you think he liked my picture?" Luke asked hopefully.

"I'm sure he loved it. He even said thank you."

"Yeah, but he cried though." he hugged his knees and rested his chin on his knees. "I didn't mean to make him cry."

"It's okay Luke, don't blame yourself. You did a nice thing for him." Leilani explained to him hugging him close.

"Where is he now?" Leo asked appearing from the kitchen with a cup of tea.

"He went to the bathroom a while ago." Don turned to the bathroom door. "He's been in there for a long time though and I heard the faucet water running."

Leo hummed thoughtfully, he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. As if confirming his suspicions they heard a desperate yell and loud crash coming from the bathroom. It sounded like glass breaking. The remaining brothers in the room immediately made their way toward the bathroom. Leo knocked on the door. "Raph." he called "Raph!" he tried again with no answer.

He pushed the door open to see Raph sitting in a corner. He was shaking violently, his eyes were wide and glazed over as he stared straight ahead. His hand was bleeding with small pieces of glass stuck in his knuckles. It was then that they noticed the broken mirror "Raph... what happened?" Don asked approaching him slowly.

"Stay away!" Raph yelled. "Please... I'm sorry." he was looking directly at them, but it was like he wasn't seeing them.

"Raph, it's us." Leo said as he continued to cautiously approach him.

"Let us help you." Mikey said. "That hand looks really bad."

"I know... let it bleed." he looked down at his trembling, bleeding hand. "let it bleed."

"Raph..." Don knelt down next to him. "Let me take a look."

Suddenly Raph pointed a sharp, jagged shard of glass at his brother. "Back off." he growled. Mikey and Leo got ready hold him down if needed

Don put his hands up. "Okay." this wasn't the first time that Raph lashed out like this. He just knows that he has to remain calm and speak slowly and carefully. "It's alright, Raph." he carefully grabbed onto his wrist. Raph quickly tried to pull away from him. "Put it down Raph, you're okay." Don held on tight as Raph continued to tug his hand out of his little brother's grip. Don couldn't believe how weak he was. Old Raph would've pushed him away by now.

Raph's gaze met with his for a second. "Please, let me go." he begged while still failing to free his hand.

"No Raph." Don said. "I'm going to help you. Now, put it down." his determined gaze piercing Raph's, leaving him no other choice, but to give in. He dropped the piece of glass and looked away. Don turned to the others standing in the doorway and nodded. Leo went to the other side of him so he and Don could help him to his feet.

"Mike, grab the first aid kit." Leo ordered while leading Raph back to his room.

…

After cleaning out the wound, Don began wrapping it up in bandages. Everyone just sat in an uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sorry Leo." Raph finally spoke.

"For what?" he asked.

"The mirror." Raph muttered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it bro. It can be replaced." Leo reassured calmly, rubbing his back.

"Raph," Don started "What happened in there?"

"Nothing, it was nothing." Raph took a deep breath. He didn't want to mention that he was slowly losing his mind. "Just forget it."

 _Liar._

Raph grimaced when he heard the voice again. "Come on bro, we just want to help you." Mikey pushed, not wanting to upset him. Raph opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then immediately shut it afterward and avoided his brothers' gazes.

Don finished up with a sigh and patted his hand gently "You're gonna be okay."

"You don't know that." Raph growled, snatching his hand away. There was a long pause before he spoke again "Olivia and I would've been married for almost twenty years. Raph shook uncontrollably "And Aiden and Jonah, they would be turning sixteen soon. In about a week now." tears pricked the corner of his eyes. "It's not fair, they should still be alive."

"I know Raph." Leo sighed sadly pulling his brother in for a tight hug which he gladly accepted. Either that or he was just to tired and weak to decline. Leo nodded his head toward the door signaling his brothers to start leaving. Don and Mikey both stood and headed for the door while Leo helped Raph lay back on the bed. He calmly and hesitantly led his brothers out of the room. They were greeted with an audience.

"Well..." Stephanie asked, worry etched into her face.

"He's alright." Leo sighed and looked over to Jayden and Warren, both were looking troubled by what they heard. He didn't really like the fact that this was affecting them this much and he wished that they didn't have to see this everyday. "More or less."

XXX

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	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Jayden stared out the window of the classroom as he waited for the last bell to ring. He found himself doing that a lot lately. His mind was on Raph's mental breakdown last week. He sighed quietly before his teacher caught him. "Mr. Hamato?"

"Hm... what?" Jayden's gray eyes locked on the source of the voice.

His teacher, Mr. Johnson, had stopped his lecture on Joan of Arc and was looking right at him. "Is there something interesting going on outside?"

"Um... no." Jayden quickly shook his head. "Sorry." his gaze then moved to his younger cousin, Ethan. Ethan shot him an 'Are you okay?' look. Jayden nodded and faced the board to catch up with what he missed. Before he knew it the bell rang signaling school had ended.

Jayden let out a heavy sigh of relief as he stood.

"Don't forget to take your tests back before you leave." Mr. Johnson quickly passed out everyone's tests as they walked out the door.

Jayden and Ethan took their tests and walked out the door into the crowded hallways of the school. Jayden looked down at his test and quickly folded it up. "Didn't do so well , huh?" Ethan asked as walked beside him.

Jayden smirked "Now there's an understatement." he sighed.

"Don't worry, I didn't do well either."

"Really? Arguably the smartest kid in the family and probably this whole school, didn't do well on a test." Jayden chuckled.

"Hey, just because I'm super smart doesn't mean I don't have off days. Especially after what happened last week with Uncle Raph." Ethan pushed his purple rimmed glasses back up the bridge of his nose then awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "We've still got to try and stay focused."

Jayden looked to his younger cousin and gave him a knowing smile. "I know, but that's easier said than done."

"Right, it must be rough for you. I get to leave after visiting him, so I can't imagine what being there all the time is like."

Jayden stopped at his locker to get his backpack "It's definitely not easy."

"How do you handle that?" Ethan asked. "How do you get through the day?"

"I just try to keep my mind on other things, but that never lasts very long. Sometimes his panic attacks get so bad that I have to leave the house."

Ethan and Jayden continue making their way through the crowded halls as middle schoolers continued to make their way out of the building. The boys eventually came to a stop in front of a door that read 'Guidance Counselor'

"Hey Mom." Jayden greeted as he opened the door to the room. Jenna looked up from her desk when her son and nephew walked in.

"Hello boys." she greeted with a warm smile. Her smile seemed to melt off her face she noticed how sad and exhausted they both looked. "What's wrong?"

Jayden didn't answer and tried to avoid making eye contact with his mother. Jenna stood and walked over to Jayden. She placed a hand under his chin and forced him to look up at her. Jayden still refused to say anything so Ethan spoke up. "We just found out that we didn't do very well on our history tests."

"Is this true, Jayden?"

He sighed and nodded

Jenna knew her son well. "Is it because of what happened with your uncle?" she asked.

"Yeah." he nodded.

"Oh sweetie, I know it must've been hard hearing all of that. Raphael was always your favorite uncle."

"It's not just that, Mom. Something else has been bothering me."

Ethan and Jenna waited patiently for him to finish. Jayden paced around the room. "Be honest with me. Do you think that they are actually dead?"

Ethan gave him a weird look and Jenna responded. "By 'they', do you mean the twins?"

Jayden nodded.

Jenna sighed and leaned up against her desk. She knew this conversation was going to come. She and Leo had told their children about what happened to Aiden and Jonah, but they just omitted some of the information. One bit of info they left out was the fact that they were found dead. Choosing, instead to tell them that they could never be found. They were way too young to know about what actually happened that night. And to Jenna, they still were. "I don't know, sweetie. I mean your father and uncles have searched and it's been ten years. It's hard to tell at this point."

"Well, I don't think they are." Jayden didn't know what, but he knew that something wasn't right. He had a feeling that she was keeping something from him and he's felt like this for a while.

"Well, it's good that you're staying positive, I guess." Ethan said.

"And what about you? What do you think?" Jayden asked Ethan "You're not thinking the same way, are you?"

"I don't know Jayden. It just doesn't seem possible at this point. It's been ten years. I'm sure that would've been back by now."

"What if they can't? What if they're being forced to do something that they don't want to do and they can't come back?"

Ethan ran his hand over his dark brown hair. "I mean, I guess it's possible, but I don't think we should get our hopes up."

Jayden sighed in defeat "Right, well it was just a thought."

Just then Kayla walked in the room. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, I believe we are." Jenna said while collecting her bag. "Come on, boys." Jenna led her two kids and nephew out the door to her car in the parking lot. Jayden hopped in the front while the two youngest jumped in the back.

As they made their way home, Jayden kept his attention out the window. He wasn't paying any mind to anything that was going on in the car. When he noticed what block they were on, he tapped Jenna on the shoulder. "Hey Mom, can you stop at the dojo?"

Jenna looked to her son then sighed. "Okay hon."

Jenna drove up another block and parked in front of a building. "Thanks Mom, I'll see you at home."

"Okay."

Jayden shut the door and watched the car drive off. He walked up to the front door and pushed it open. He could already hear his father giving out orders to his martial arts students. Jayden kicked off his shoes and put them in an empty cubby, then made his way through the main area where about a dozen teenagers were going through a series of punches and kicks. He quickly made his way to the back room careful not to distract anyone from his father's instruction. Leo noticed him though, but since he couldn't really step away from his class right now, he turned his attention back to his students.

Jayden shut the door behind him. There was a large punching bag in the middle of the room. He saw a pair of fighting wraps and gloves in the back closet and put them on. He turned to the bag and immediately began wailing on it. Every punch becoming more and more powerful and aggressive. This is what he did to relieve stress and now was a good time to release everything he was feeling. Frustration at knowing that his parents were hiding things from him, frustration at not knowing what really happened to Aiden and Jonah. Anger at the people that did this to Raph in the first place. He didn't stop until his wrists and knuckles were sore and he was drenched in sweat. He leaned up against a wall and slowly slid down until he was sitting.

That is how Warren found him. Jayden didn't notice as he took his gloves off and threw them across the room in anger.

"Rough day?" Warren asked leaning against the door frame.

Jayden looked up to see his cousin looking right at him "Hey Warren, what are you doing here?"

"I was helping out Uncle Leo with the dojo today. I was about to leave when he asked me to come back here to check on you." he walked over and sat down next to him. "What's going on?"

"I'm just..." he started then sighed "torn, I guess."

"Well, I'm here if you need to talk."

Jayden took a deep breath and decided to ask the same question he asked Jenna and Ethan. "Do you think they're really dead?"

"Who?"

"Aiden and Jonah."

Warren wasn't expecting that question. He instantly turned away from him and started absentmindedly playing with the dreads on his head. Jayden noticed his hesitation "Well?"

Warren didn't want to lie to him, but he felt like he had to. Warren was the only kid that knew what actually happened. After months of pestering his parents about it, they caved and told him everything. It was heart wrenching, to say the least, when he found out that the kids, the cousins he looked up to were actually dead. It hurt even more when he was told how they died. He was shocked. He wanted to throw up, he wanted to cry, but surprisingly he didn't do any of that. Instead he just stood there completely stone faced. How could anyone do that to children? He couldn't put that same burden on Jayden. Then again, Warren was the same age as Jayden when he found out and he knows how persistent his little cousin can be. Still, he had to at least try to deter him. "I mean, it's possible. They could come back."

"You're lying." Jayden stated.

Warren looked to him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I know you're keeping something from me." Jayden said. "Everyone is keeping something from me."

"No one is hiding anything , Jayden."

"Then why won't anyone tell me the truth?"

"Because you don't need to know."

"Why not?" Jayden exclaimed. "Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because they..." Warren had to stop himself. He almost let it slip out.

Jayden pushed to try and get the info out of him. "What? They what?"

Warren looked away, embarrassed. He had a feeling he was going to have to let out a secret that he wasn't supposed to. "Um, it's nothing."

"No, what were you about to say?" Jayden desperately grabbed Warren's shoulders. "I have to know. Please tell me."

"Jayden..." Warren sighed.

"Look, I can handle it. Just tell me."

Warren sighed again. He knew that Jayden was not going to let this go. "Fine. If you really need to know. Years ago, when they were out looking for the twins, they were able to locate them, but,"

"But...?" Jayden encouraged him to continue.

"They were already dead, they were killed."

"Killed." Jayden slumped up against the wall. "How?"

Warren thought about keeping quiet at this point, but he's come this far. Why stop now? "They were burned."

"Oh my God." Warren noticed that Jayden was getting visibly paler.

"Yeah, now imagine how Uncle Raph must have felt when he saw that."

"Yeah..." Jayden stood up and headed for the exit. "I... should head home."

"Wait up, I'll go with you." Warren started to follow.

"No... I'll go on my own. I need to think for a bit." When he opened the door, Leo was standing on the other end. "Oh, hey Dad. I was just heading home." he quickly moved passed him.

Warren stood up too. "Don't worry Uncle, I'll keep an eye on him and make sure he gets home."

"Thanks, Warren." Leo responded and stepped out of the way to let him through.

…

 _Somewhere in Japan_

"Are you prepared to leave?" Karai asked when her two main Foot soldiers entered her room.

"Yes, we are ready to leave when you command." one of the ninjas said.

"Good." Karai said. "I have been waiting years for this moment. Finally, I will be rid of that wretched Hamato clan. After what they did to the Shredder." the two ninjas stood waiting for her to finish. "I will destroy the rest of their family just like they destroyed mine." he turned to the two ninja. "Go, you know what you need to do." she finally ordered. The two ninjas bowed and turned to leave. "One more thing." she stopped them before they could exit. "I hope that neither one of you will forget who you work for."

"Yes, Mistress Karai." they both answered before leaving.

XXX

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	7. Chapter 7

Sorry, it has been a while.

Update: Sorry, apparently the format was all screwed up. Hopefully this is better.

XXX

Chapter 7

Jayden made his way down the fairly empty sidewalk to a nearby restaurant. It was his turn to pick up the chicken broth for Raph. Since the incident, Raph hasn't really been able to keep down anything solid so broth was the only thing he could eat.

Those that were out and about were in a rush to get home. Jayden took a quick glance toward the sky. Dark clouds began to roll over the city and he could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. He picked up the pace a bit until he made it to the building that read 'Tropical Lounge' in big, lit up letters. The Tropical Lounge was one of the most popular island themed restaurants in the area, probably in the whole city, so naturally when Jayden stepped through the door he was immediately greeted with a large group of people all waiting to be seated. A majority of the restaurant's walls were made of bricks, but they handled the blandness by hanging and placing plenty of fake palm trees and various other plants to give it a bit of an island feel. There was one wall that had a very detailed painting of a beach on it. It was the same for the upper level of the restaurant.

Jayden had to squeeze his way through to make it to the kitchen. Waiters and waitresses were moving in and out quickly to accommodate the needs of the customers. He moved into the kitchen and stood off to the side so he wouldn't be blocking anyone. He did a quick search until he found the owner in his white chef jacket. "Uncle Mike." he called out.

Mikey looked up from what he was cooking, called one of his fellow chefs to take over for him and made his way over to his nephew with a plastic bag in his hand. "Hey there, J."

"Hey, busy as usual, I see."

"Of course, I have to keep my loyal customers happy." he handed over the plastic bag with a container filled with chicken broth. "This is for you."

"Thanks." he started to make his way out only to be stopped.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" Mikey asked.

Jayden froze when he heard that. It seemed that he wasn't safe from being asked that question. "I'm fine, Uncle Mikey. Why do you ask?"

He studied him for a second before shaking his head. "No reason." he stated right before Leilani walked into the back.

"Alright." she sighed. "I'm done for the day." she took off her blazer and tossed it over her shoulder. She was the manager so she was one of the people out front with everyone else. She gave Mikey a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you at home."

She made her way to the back door with Jayden following close behind. "Later Uncle Mike." he called back to him. Mikey waved and got right back to work.

Leilani opened the back exit that led to an alley and stopped in their tracks when they noticed how the weather had turned. Thunder rumbled loudly overhead and thick drops of water pelted the concrete relentlessly.

"Welp, I should've seen that coming." Jayden said as he looked out at the storm.

"Wanna ride?" Leilani offered.

"Yes please." he answered without hesitation.

"Alright, let's go." she quickly ran out of the building toward her car and Jayden followed.

…

Warren and Leo were closing up the dojo for the day. Warren was always willing to help out anyone in his family especially Leo. He wanted to try and reduce the level of stress Leo was feeling in any way he could. Leo took notice of this about a year ago, but never really said anything about it.

Warren had just finished mopping up the mats when Leo spoke up. "You know as much as I appreciate you helping out all the time, you don't have to do this every day. I don't want to take away from your own personal time."

Warren shrugged "I know, but I want to. I just feel like you could use an extra hand and besides..." he reached up and ran a hand through his purple tipped dreads "it's not like I have much to do anyway outside of school, so I don't mind."

Leo gave him a small smile and lightly pat him on the head. "Thanks."

"No problem, Uncle."

"Let's head out, we're all done here." Leo shut the lights off and made his way to the main lobby where only two pairs of shoes remained. Leo slipped his on and waited for Warren to do the same. As he did so he opened up the front door only to be welcomed by thunder and rain. In the darkness off to his right he could've sworn that he saw something else, or someone else run into the alley closest to him. Something didn't feel right. Leo quickly shut the door and turned to Warren, who was ready to go.

"Is something wrong?" Warren asked unnerved when he noticed the worried look on Leo's face.

Leo stayed silent for a while as if he was listening for something. He really didn't like this feeling in the pit of his stomach. "We're gonna have to be quick about this, I'm gonna lock this place up and we gotta make a break for it. Stay close okay." Warren nodded his head slowly. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but if it made Leo act weird then he wasn't going to question it. "Ready?" Warren nodded his response again. "Go." he ordered and made his way out of the building, quickly locking up before making his way to his car. The pounding rain instantly soaked them. He sped up as he made his way down the sidewalk only to be cut off by a black clad ninja. It was the Foot.

The ninja wasn't alone, he had a couple friends with him that surrounded the adult and the teenager. "What do we do now, Uncle Leo?" Warren asked, scared. All his martial arts training never really prepared him for something like this, for a real fight against real ninjas.

Leo had to act quickly, he really had no time to think. He looked off to his right and noticed an alleyway. Warren followed his gaze and nodded, understanding what he was going to do. Get through the maze of the alleyway and find a manhole cover. "Run." he ordered. Warren sprinted into the alley with Leo followed by the ninjas hot on his tail. He kept running along the alleyways until he hit a dead end with a manhole cover right at their feet. Jumping in right now wasn't the smartest idea because they'll see, so he had to wait. "Stay back, Warren." Leo ordered. Warren backed himself against the wall and waited.

The ninjas attacked the cornered people, but Leo was ready. The Foot soldiers were no match for the ninja master. One by one he took them all down until there were none left standing. He turned to Warren "Go, now."

Warren quickly moved the manhole cover out of the way and hopped in and waited for Leo to follow. As they made their way to the lair Leo quickly took out his phone to call his wife, but got cut off when it rang. "Jeez." Leo sighed before answering. Warren's rang around the same time.

"Hello." Leo answered.

"Leo!" the stressed and panicked voice of Don came from the other end. "It's the Foot, they're back."

"I know, Don." that leader like tone resurfaced in an instant. "Listen, just focus on getting to safety."

"I am. I have Stephanie and Ethan and we're at the lair now. Please tell me that Warren is still with you."

"Don't worry, Don. He's fine, we're on our way to the lair right now." he paused for moment to let relief set in. "Try to get a hold of Mikey. He's still working. Let him know what's happening. If you can, try to get to Leilani, Nicole and Luke."

"Right, be careful Leo."

"Yeah, you too." and with that they hung up.

"Uncle," Leo turned to Warren and noticed the look of worry etched on his face. "It's Uncle Raph, he's gone."

XXX

I'm just gonna leave this chapter like this because why not.

Enjoy

Read and review


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 _Earlier..._

Jayden had woken up from a nap and was almost immediately surrounded by the spicy scent of his mother's cooking. He made his way out of his room and down the stairs inhaling the scent of chili as he descended. The smell made his mouth water. "Smells great, Mom."

Jenna turned to her son and smiled. "Thank you, you can have some in a bit, but first can you give your uncle his food?" she pointed to a bowl sitting on a tray. "I put a bit of rice in there for him this time. Hopefully he can keep it down." since the incident, Raph hasn't been able to eat anything solid and sometimes he just refuses to eat at all. Because of this he's gotten smaller from the lack of any real nutrition.

"Alright, I'll be right back." Jayden grabbed the tray and headed for Raph's room. He opened the door all the way and stepped inside the dark room. "Uncle Raph?" he spoke softly. Raph was in the same position he was always in, curled up in a ball, under the blanket facing away from the door. "It's time to eat." he spoke up. Jayden moved closer to him and could hear soft crying.

His movements became a little quicker as he moved to the other side of the bed and placed the tray on the night stand. He then knelt down near him and turned the bedside lamp on. Raph's face was twisted in a look of anguish. His brow furrowed, his breathing was labored and he was covered in sweat. Jayden sighed as he realized that his uncle was having another nightmare. Normally his father would be the one handling something like this, but he wasn't here right now. He placed a hand on his shoulder and began to gently shake him, hopefully to coax him out of his restless sleep.

"No..." Raph moaned. "leave them."

"Uncle Raph, you gotta wake up." Jayden spoke gently to keep from scaring him.

"Let them go." he mumbled.

Just from those three words alone, Jayden knew what he was dreaming about. "Uncle Raph, nothing's wrong. Nothing's happening."

Raph wasn't hearing any of it. He began thrashing, getting tangled in his sheets, still locked in what ever nightmare he was having. Jayden sat at the edge of the bed and continued to try and rouse him. "Uncle, it's okay. You-" Jayden was suddenly cut off when he felt a sharp pain across his cheek. The force of what hit him was enough to knock him off the bed, to the floor. At first Jayden wasn't sure what happened until he looked up at his Uncle. He was wide awake, sitting up in bed and staring down at his hand with a pained expression on his face. Both of them knew at that point, Raph had struck him.

"J-Jayden, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean- I just..."

"Uncle Raph, it's okay." Jayden stood up, holding his cheek. "I'm fine."

Raph had a glazed look in his eye again, just like a week ago. Jayden noticed right away that Raph didn't hear a word he said. "... I d-didn't mean it." he continued mumbling to himself, dazed.

"I know you didn't and it's okay. I'm okay."

Raph shook his head furiously, got up out of bed and suddenly ran off.

"Wait!" Jayden called and followed him out the bedroom. "Come back." when he got to the door, Raph was already gone.

Kayla and Jenna both stood at the front door, looking out at the rain coming down. "What happened, Jayden?" Kayla turned to her older brother. "And what happened to your face?"

Jayden instinctively brought a hand up to his cheek. It was probably starting to bruise at this point. He sighed, knowing that his mother was going to freak once he explained what happened. "I tried waking Uncle Raph, so he could eat. He was having a nightmare so when he woke up, he lashed out and hit me."

"What?" Jenna snapped looking slightly confused and angry at the same time.

"It's not a big deal. I'm fine. Anyway, when he realized that he hit me, he freaked out and ran off." Jayden finished. "We have to go after him."

"You're not going anywhere." Jenna scolded. Raph was in a very fragile state right now and she didn't want him lashing out at Jayden again. "I'll call your father." she pulled her phone out of her pocket and called her husband. She was disappointed when he didn't pick up. "No answer."

"Wait..." Jayden said, taking out his own phone. "What about Warren? He could still be with Dad."

"Worth a shot."

Jayden found the name he was looking for in his contact list and waited patiently for an answer. " _Hello."_

"Warren, you're still with Dad, right?"

 _"Yeah, I am. Listen Jayden..."_

"Uncle Raph is gone." Jayden blurted out cutting him off.

 _"Wait, what?"_ Warren asked. _"What do you mean he's gone?"_

"As in he ran off." Jayden explained quickly. " Look, I need you to put Dad on the phone. I need to tell him what's happening."

 _"Alright, hang on. But J, I'm letting you know now that you need to get out of the house."_ he said before handing the phone off, leaving Jayden slightly confused.

 _"Jayden?"_ he heard a new voice.

"Dad, Uncle Raph ran off." he explained. "If we hurry we can still find him."

Leo was silent for a second before giving an audible, frustrated sigh. _"No Jayden, I'll find him. You need to get to the lair."_ Jayden didn't know, but he was trying to remain as calm as possible. _"You remember where that is, don't you?"_

"Well... yeah." Jayden stated confused. He wasn't sure what was going on, on their end, but if he had to go to the lair then it must've been an emergency. "But what about..."

 _"Don't worry about your Uncle. I need you to take your mother and your sister and get underground. Now."_ he demanded.

"But Uncle Raph is..."

 _"I said NOW, Jayden."_ Leo snapped.

Jayden flinched at the sudden change in tone and he didn't dare question his father once his voice went from calm and soothing to sharp and authoritative. "Okay Dad, we're on our way." he quickly hung up the phone and turned to his mother. "We need to get to the lair."

Jenna's eyes widened "Did he say why?"

"No, but he said we gotta go now."

"Alright, you two. Move quickly to the alleyway." Both kids quickly moved out of the house. The rain was not letting up and immediately soaked all of them once they stepped out. All Jayden could do was worry about Raph's condition. Once underground, they began to make their short trek toward the lair. "Quickly now, kids."

"Mom, do you think Dad and our uncles will be okay up there?" Jayden asked nervously.

"They'll be fine, they've been doing this for a long time." of course back then they also had Raph to fight along side them.

"What exactly is happening? And why do we have to go underground?" Kayla continued asking questions, since she didn't really remember anything that happened back then.

"I'll explain everything when we're safe." Jenna said "Now keep moving."

...

A group of foot ninjas stood on a rooftop, awaiting orders. One of the ninja in the middle spoke up. "I need everyone to split up and search. Half of you search downtown, the rest of you head for the east side. If you see any of them, take them out." The group split up, leaving only two behind. They stood silently for a long time before the one giving the orders suddenly took off across the rooftops and the other quickly followed behind.

"Where are we going?" the second one asked when he caught up.

"Gonna make a quick stop." the first responded.

The second didn't say anything as he continued following. When they landed on the roof of a familiar home, that's when more questions started. "What are we doing here, Aiden?"

"We are going to do our job." Aiden answered coldly.

"But-"

"But nothing, Jonah." Aiden stopped him. "We have a job to do and we're going to do it." he climbed down onto the fire escape and took a peek through the window. It was pitch black inside. He tried opening one of the windows. When it didn't budge, he decided to go with a less stealthy approach. Jonah flinched when Aiden kicked it in and shattered glass fell to the ground. Both of them carefully climbed into the darkened room, hands on the hilt of their swords as they readied themselves for a possible attack. They slowly moved across the bedroom to a light switch and flicked it on. The room stayed dark. "Oh... great."

"Hang on" Jonah reached in the inner part of his uniform and pulled out a small flashlight. Aiden eyed him and he just shrugged. "I gotta be prepared for anything." he moved the light over the room, everything seemed neat and was in the right place, but it was all covered in dust. Jonah ran a finger over a dresser, leaving a long mark in the dust. "Jeez, it looks like no one has been here in ages."

Aiden didn't speak as he left to go check the other rooms of the house. In every other room it was the same thing. Everything was neat and put together, but covered in dust. When they got to the living room, however, it was a different story. The furniture was still covered in a layer of dust, but everything was a wreck. Furniture was flipped over, shards of glass nearly covered the entire carpet from the the once whole coffee table, the TV was knocked over and the screen was cracked right down the middle.

"Welcome home, Jonah." Aiden said with malice in his voice.

"What the hell happened?" Jonah knelt down and examined the shattered coffee table. "Did a tornado roll through here?"

"Who knows?" Aiden shrugged and headed for the door, making sure no one was outside. The rain was starting to die down making it much easier to see. "Who cares?" he moved to the window to take a quick glance just as he saw a shadow stumble by in the alleyway. "What the-" he quickly opened the window and followed quietly behind the shadow.

"Aiden?" he hurried to follow after his brother, but stopped when something caught his eye. There, near the destroyed TV set was a bottle, an empty bottle. Jonah picked it up and read the label. His eyes widened at what he saw. "What?" near the bottle were little capsules. "Who was taking this?" Jonah hid the bottle in the hidden pocket inside his uniform along with the flashlight before taking another look around his home. "Mom, Dad, what happened to you guys?" he sighed before leaving to follow after his brother.

XXX

I think this is a good place to end it, so I'll leave it at that.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Leo and Warren had finally made it to the lair. Warren started to wring the water out of his hair and clothes just as Stephanie emerged from one of the rooms upstairs. "Oh thank goodness." she said when she saw her son. She ran up to him and hugged him tight. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Hey Steph, where's Don?"

"He already left to go get Leilani. He managed to get a hold of Mikey before leaving so he should be okay."

The lair doors opened again, letting in Jenna, Kayla and Jayden. Leo greeted them the same way Stephanie did to her own son. Jayden, who was now sporting a fully bruised cheek was then easily noticed by his father. "Jayden, what happened?" he asked examining purple, bulging skin under the eye.

Jayden gently swatted his hand away. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"Jayden..."

The young teen sighed "I'll explain later. Just find Uncle Raph first. He's more important."

Leo wanted to worry about him, but he was right. Raph was still out there on his own and if he got caught by the Foot, Leo was sure that Raph wouldn't fight back.

"Okay, I'm gonna start looking. You guys stay inside, do not leave the lair." he ordered.

"Leo, just go." Stephanie said. "I'll take care of things here."

Leo nodded his thanks and moved to the weapons room to grab his trusted katana. He hasn't put these on since Raph first broke down. He never thought he would have to put them back on. He sighed and strapped them to his back as he made his way out of the lair. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he turned it over and pulled an ear piece out of the case. He placed it in his ear and called his remaining brothers. "Guys, I'm gonna start looking for Raph."

"What do you mean you're gonna look for Raph?" Donnie exclaimed.

"What happened to him?" Mikey asked.

"Listen, I don't know what happened." Leo tried staying as calm as possible despite everything that was happening. "But I'm not going to worry about it now. When you get everyone safely to the lair, start looking. I hate to say this right now, but we need to split up. We have a better chance at finding him that way."

"Right." Donnie agreed.

Before hanging up he had one last thing to say. "Guys, be careful, okay."

"You too." Mikey said. "And keep in touch."

"I will." Leo hung up and climbed the closest ladder and pushed the manhole cover out of the way. The rain had stopped by this point and the gray clouds started rolling away. He climbed out into a muck strewn alleyway and made his way up to a rooftop. "Alright Raph, where are you?" he said to himself before taking off.

XXX

Aiden continued following the stumbling figure through the alley as quietly as possible. When the figure stopped and slumped against a wall that's when Aiden made his move. Drawing his sword, he moved in. Aiden stood over the slumped form and got a good look at who decided to take a seat near his old home. He immediately recognized who it was when he saw his face. He was pale and sickly looking, he was way more emaciated then Aiden remembered.

"Hey Dad." the greeting was sarcastic and so full of venom when he saw his face. Raph looked up and stared, seeming dazed and confused. Like he wasn't really seeing him. He was soaked through and shivered uncontrollably against the cold breeze. "Look at you, is this what you've been doing all this time? Laying around in the dirt, feeling sorry for yourself." Raph looked back down at the ground and continued shivering. Aiden scoffed "I'll be doing you a favor when I put you out of your misery."

"Aiden, wait." Jonah had finally showed up. "You don't have to do this. "

"Yes, I do. That's the reason why we're here."

"But he's your father."

"He's no father of mine!" Aiden snapped. "Our father would have come looking for us, but he never did. Karai was right. He stopped caring about us."

"I don't believe he would just give up trying to look without a reason. Look at him, something has clearly devastated him."

Aiden looked down at his father again. "That doesn't matter to me."

"It should." Jonah argued. "Don't do something you'll regret later."

"I won't regret this." he raised his sword over his head and quickly swung down toward his father's body.

"No!" Jonah said suddenly blocking his brother's attack with his own sword. He kicked him away and quickly readied himself for another attack. "I won't let you do this." he stood protectively in front of Raph. "If you want to get to him then you'll have to go through me and we both know what will happen when you step up to me."

Aiden growled. "Fine, I won't do anything... not now anyway." he turned away from him. "Have fun explaining to Karai how he got away."

"She won't find out."

"Unless someone tells her." he tried his hardest to sound threatening, but his brother knew him too well.

"I know you won't do that." he dismissed that empty threat.

Aiden scoffed "Whatever, you're on your own." and with that he took off, finding another fire escape to climb.

Jonah shook his head and knelt down next to Raph. He had no idea what to say to him, he hasn't seen him in years and he looked different. The years haven't been easy on him. He looked... sick and weak. Before he could muster up courage to say anything, Raph spoke.

"Why did you save me?" his voice was soft and Jonah barely heard it.

"What?" Jonah hadn't really noticed that he was paying attention since he looked so out of it.

"Why did you save me from him? Why didn't you let him kill me?" Raph asked.

Jonah chuckled a bit in spite of what he was seeing. He couldn't help it, he last remembered his father being so strong and having a 'never quit' attitude. The father that he knew would do anything to protect his family. Seeing him like this just seemed unreal. "I couldn't let him do that."

"Why?" he sounded like he was begging him. "You should've let me die."

"I can't let that happen, Dad." Jonah then realized that Raph was never really paying attention to the conversation he had with his brother, but he did manage to see the fight between the two.

Raph looked up at his masked face not knowing that he was looking right at his own son. "What?"

Jonah reached up to the back of his head and untied his mask. He pulled it off his head revealing tanned skin, short, brown hair that was now flat against his head because of the rain and those same bright, amber eyes. "Dad, it's me, Jonah."

Raph looked up at the black clad ninja and furrowed his brows in confusion. He then shook his head and turned away. "No." he whispered. "You're not."

Jonah placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Dad, I..."

Raph swatted his hand away. "Get away from me. You're not real. I don't have any kids."

"Yeah, you do, don't you remember?"

"Go away." he demanded, his voice rising. He covered his ears trying to block out the voice. "Leave me alone. You're not real."

"Dad, I am real." Jonah tried to reach out for him again, but stopped when he sensed someone. He quickly looked up and brought his sword up to block an attack. He quickly backed away from the new attacker and held his sword up, blocking the flurry of attacks. Jonah barely blocked one strong strike that knocked him to the ground and knocked his own katana a few feet away from him. In a panic, he held out his hands in front of him and yelled. "Wait!" to his surprise the attacks did stop. "I'm not here to fight anyone."

"Lies. I know exactly why you're here." he moved back a bit so he stood in front of Raph. "I won't let you hurt him." he kept his sword pointed at the teen. He clearly wasn't in a good mood. "You've taken enough from him."

Jonah realized who was talking to him. He wasn't sure before, the way he attacked with his swords was so fluid that he thought it might have been him. The voice is what really got him. It was soothing yet stern at the same time. "Uncle Leo, it's me." he saw the adult's stance falter a bit, but only a bit. "It's Jonah." hopefully he would get a better reaction from him.

He seemed to think about what he just heard, but he kept his guard up. He shook his head defiantly. "No, you're not."

"But, Uncle Leo..."

"Stop calling me that. My nephews-" he paused and looked back to Raph who was still curled up against the wall. His shoulders drooped slightly at the condition his younger brother was in. "-his sons died years ago." he glared at him. "And we have you to thank for that."

That was news to Jonah, he had no idea what he was going on about. "What are you talking about? I'm alive."

"Just stop, you're not fooling anyone. I saw the bodies."

This new information was definitely unnerving, but it would explain why his own father refused to acknowledge him. "I swear I'm not trying to fool anybody. I don't know how I can prove it, but I'm telling you I am Jonah and I'm alive." he slowly stood up, his hands still up as a sign of peace. He thought of any way he could possibly prove to him that he wasn't dead. "Maybe..." he rolled up his sleeve, revealing the slim heart shaped birthmark on his bicep. "Maybe this will help."

That seemed to do it. Leo slowly brought his sword back to his side. He seemed to be warring with himself. The thought of what he had already seen and what he was seeing right now in front of him, it scared him. The silence between them was starting to get uncomfortable. "Uncle Leo... say something."

"I want to believe you."

"So why can't you?"

"Because it's just too crazy to believe. There's still so many questions. Where's your brother?""

"I understand and I'll answer all of them. Right now," his eyes moved to the shivering mass still sitting behind Leo. "You need to take care of Dad."

Leo turned to look back at Raph. "What about you?"

"If you really want your questions answered then meet me here in our house, tomorrow. It's safer if we meet in the morning. Say 10 o'clock. It'll give me time to get away from Foot Headquarters."

Leo sighed, still not knowing if this was the right decision. "Fine, I'll see you there tomorrow morning."

Jonah gave a curt nod and turned away from them. "I'm sorry for whatever it is that happened to him." and with that he was gone.

Leo ran a hand through his wet black hair and exhaled heavily. This whole ordeal has left him both mentally and physically drained and it wasn't even over yet. "Come on, Raph." he gently helped his brother to his feet and began to make his way back to the lair. "Let's get you outta here and get you warmed up, okay."

"L-Leo, I..."

"I'm here, bud. You're okay now."

"I'm sorry" Raph whispered.

"It's okay." Leo assured, assuming that he was talking about him running away.

"Is Jayden okay?"

"He's fine. Don't worry."

"I'm sorry." he repeated. "I'm so sorry."

Leo sighed sadly. "I know, I know." He called his younger brothers back. "Guys, head back to the lair. I found him."

Two sighs of relief came through from the other end. "Alright we'll see you soon." Don responded first.

"And guys, I've got news that you might want to hear when I get back." he really hoped that this meeting tomorrow didn't turn sour, but if it could bring the old Raph back he would take that chance.

XXX

Enjoy, all feedback is welcome

Hopefully, I will be able to get these out a lot faster.


	10. Chapter 10

**Alright, so I did a bit of editing in the previous chapters and I think everything is to my liking.**

 **Here's the next chapter.**

XXX

Chapter 10

After Leo had brought Raph to the lair safely, got him and everyone else changed into the spare clothes that they kept in the lair in case of emergency and once the kids were in bed. Leo gathered all the adults in the living area to explain the current situation. "What!?" Mikey exclaimed when Leo had told them that Raph's kids may be alive and wanted to meet. "Are you insane?"

Leo chuckled in spite of himself. "I might be, but you can't deny that it's possible."

"Yeah, I can, actually. We saw the bodies, don't you remember?"

"Of course I remember, but those bodies were charred beyond recognition. It could've been anybody." Leo said with hope in his voice.

"So, let's just say for arguments sake that you do meet up with this guy claiming to be Jonah, " Stephanie started also finding this whole thing hard to believe. "and it turns out that it's not him. You could be walking into a trap."

Leo rubbed the back of his head. "I know, I know. I have to try, though."

"Leo..." Don finally spoke. "I don't know. I don't like this."

"This seems too risky." Jenna stated.

"And way too good to be true." Mikey crossed his arms over his chest.

Leo walked over to his youngest brother, placed both hands on his shoulders and locked eyes with him. "Please Mikey, if there's a chance that we could get the old Raph back, why shouldn't we take it?"

"Because Raph wouldn't want want any of us to risk our lives on a chance."

Leo couldn't help, but admit that Mikey was kind of right. Raph wouldn't want anyone risking their lives for him. He was always so protective even more so than Leo, sometimes. But he had to try, he had to know if this was really happening, if Jonah and Aiden were really alive. He dropped his hands to his sides and said "I understand your concern, but I'm going up there in the morning. I have to know."

Mikey shook his head and sighed. "Fine, but you're not going alone."

"We're going with you as back up." Don finished.

Leo smiled at his two brothers. "Thanks guys, but..." he paused as he thought. "Maybe one of you should stay behind and watch Raph, in case he tries to run off again." Leo turned his gaze to Don.

Don knew that he meant him. "Alright, fine I'll stay behind. Just be careful, okay."

"We will, Don. Don't worry." there was a bit of silence following the conversation until Leo spoke up again. "Look, it's been a rough day. I think we all need to just get to bed and rest up for tomorrow."

Mikey finally uncrossed his arms and headed to his room with a huff. Leilani followed close behind. The others did the same, silently heading toward their temporary rooms. Leilani followed Mike into their room and shut the door as he plopped down on the bed with his head in his hands. "Mikey..." she said softly. "Are you okay?"

He looked up from the floor. "Yeah."

"Babe, what's wrong?"

"This whole thing is wrong. I don't believe this is real."

Leilani sat beside him on the bed. "I know it's hard to believe, but what if it is true? What if they are alive?"

"I don't know, it just doesn't seem possible."

She propped herself up on her knees and wrapped her arms around him in a gentle embrace. "What happened to the old Mikey? He was always so positive and hopeful. He believed that anything could happen."

"Yeah, and then he died when his brother gave up on life."

"Well, maybe, just for one day, you should bring him back." Mikey turned to look her in the eye. "I'm not saying let your guard down completely. I'm just saying to have an open mind."

Mikey sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll try."

Leilani kissed the top of his head. "Now come on, let's try to get some sleep, okay."

Mikey silently climbed into bed with her, trying to keep all negative thoughts out of his mind.

* * *

Don shut the door behind him and leaned up against it. "Come on Donnie." Stephanie coaxed her husband to the bed.

Don started to make his way over when there was a knock at the door. He opened it see his eldest son standing there. "Warren? What's wrong?"

"Is it true?" he asked simply. "Are they alive?"

"You were listening? You should be asleep." Stephanie scolded.

Warren shrugged, nervously. "I wasn't really tired so I got curious and listened in. Sorry."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Don said.

Warren's green gaze locked onto his father's hazel eyes, almost pleading. "So, is it true?"

"Well, we don't know. That's what your uncles are going to figure out tomorrow morning, but until then I'm gonna need you to help me out." he didn't want his son to dwell on the possibility too long so he had to get his mind off it.

"With what?"

Stephanie stood and walked over to them. "While your father and I are taking care of your Uncle Raph, I need you to help out with keeping your cousins occupied. We may be down here a while."

Warren knew what they were trying to do. He gave them a small smile. "Alright, you can count on me."

"Good, now get to bed." Stephanie ordered.

"Okay ma, goodnight."

"Goodnight." they replied in unison.

* * *

Leo and Jenna lay down together in bed. Jenna snuggled up against her husband's chest in an effort to transfer any sort of comfort to him. Leo wrapped an arm around her shoulders and sighed. Jenna looked up at him. "What's on your mind?"

"Just starting to think that this is not a good idea."

"Oh, it totally isn't." she answered honestly and laughed a bit when he groaned. "But you can't doubt yourself now. If you believe that they are alive then I support you all the way. Trust your gut, it's usually not wrong."

Leo chuckled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Jenna giggled. "No problem."

* * *

Jonah made his way into the main room of Foot headquarters where Karai and Aiden were waiting. Jonah stood in front of Karai and bowed at the waist. "You wanted to see me, Mistress Karai?"

"Yes," Karai started, standing. "I heard that you managed to find one of them. Raphael, was it?"

Jonah straightened. "Yes, Mistress." Jonah replied with little hesitation while glancing to his twin brother. Aiden didn't look back, probably because he was the one that told her. _'I can't believe him. Bastard.'_ He thought. His own brother actually went and told Karai what happened. _'Whatever, I'll deal with him later.'_ "However, there were some complications that I had to deal with."

"Oh, and what would that be, because I was told that he's not in a very healthy state, physically and mentally. It should have been easy for you to take him down."

"And I was going to, but..."

"But what?" she interrupted. "Because I was also told that you let him get away." Karai glared at the teenager in hopes to make him falter, to make him show any sort of sign that he was lying, but he didn't.

"I did no such thing." Jonah said, keeping his voice calm while keeping his golden gaze locked with her icy blues. "One of his brothers, Leonardo, showed up before I could strike him down. I can tell you that physically he is still tough. Being that there was a huge gap in experience, I decided not to fully engage or else I'm sure he would have killed me."

"Oh really?" she turned an accusatory glare toward Aiden. Jonah looked toward him as well and noticed his whole body stiffen, he had to keep himself from giving him a smug smile.

"Yes, Mistress."

She slowly walked up to Aiden. "His story is much different than what you told me." she stated.

"My apologies, Mistress." Aiden stated, nervously.

"Don't be too hard on him. He wasn't there when it happened. I sent him away to hopefully find another member of the Hamato clan. I thought that, being the oldest, I deserved to have the honor of destroying the man that I once called my father." Jonah explained and Karai gave them both a quick once over, eyeing them suspiciously. She nodded her head. Letting them know that for now they weren't in any trouble... for now. "Very well, you may leave."

The teens bowed and left, heading toward their own room for the night. Once they were inside Aiden immediately turned to his brother. "That was a great lie you told her. I gotta say I didn't think you'd be able to come up with something on the spot like that."

Jonah rolled his eyes. ' _This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't told her anything.'_ he thought. "Who said it was a lie?" Jonah locked eyes with his brother. "I didn't lie. Uncle Leo did show up and he would've taken my head off."

"What stopped him?" Aiden asked.

"I told him who I was."

"That's it?"

"That barely worked. He didn't seem to recognize me and he was in a bit of denial."

Aiden chuckled, but it sounded just plain evil. It was enough to send a chill down Jonah's spine. "Maybe we really are dead to them. If only they bothered to look for us."

 _"His sons died years we have you to thank for that."_ Leo's words echoed in Jonah's head. _"Just stop, you're not fooling anyone. I saw the bodies."_

So maybe there was some truth to what he was saying, but Jonah didn't think it was like that exactly. He still believed that there was something more. He looked back to his brother and for him it was like looking in a mirror, everything looked about the same except for the sadistic smile that now took place on Aiden's face. Jonah shook his head. "I'm going to bed."

"So early?"

"Yeah, I've got somewhere to be tomorrow."

"Where?" Aiden asked curiously.

"Don't worry about it." Jonah sighed. ' _I really shouldn't have said anything. Oh well, can't take it back now.'_

"You're not going to tell anyone that you're going?"

"No, there's no need. Are you going to tell on me again?" Jonah accused.

Aiden thought about it, then shook his head. "I don't think we need to do that."

Jonah gave a smug smirk. "You're just scared that if you do then I'll get you into trouble. Then I'll have to bail you out, like I did just now."

Aiden shrugged. "Whatever, do what you want."

Jonah eyed him suspiciously. "Alright, goodnight."

Aiden stayed silent as he sat down on his bed. Jonah sighed and did the same on the other bed across the room.

XXX

 **Alright, we'll get to see what happens when they meet up in the next chapter.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys, I know I said I was going to re write this, but I decided to just go with some edits instead. I think it's better off this way.**

 **Also after this chapter I have a question to ask of you guys.**

XXX

Chapter 11

Leo and Mikey made their way through the crowded sidewalks. It was a bit of a trek, but they would probably get there faster by walking rather than trying to fight through early morning rush hour traffic. Leo's heart was racing at the thought of what they were going to see when they made it to their destination. He looked over to his younger brother who had a look of uncertainty written on his face. "Anything you want to discuss before we get there, Mikey?"

Mikey shook his head, keeping his gaze forward.

"It would be best if you got everything off your chest before this meeting." Leo suggested.

"I've said everything I needed to say last night." Mikey said curtly.

"Mikey..." Leo sighed.

"Fine. Listen, I still don't know about this, but after talking to Leilani and sleeping on it, I think that it could be possible. The possibility is just warring with what I've already seen." he explained. "But I trust your instinct, I always have and that's not going to change now."

"You're putting a lot of faith in my instincts."

Mikey shrugged halfheartedly. "Being the youngest, you kinda have to do it all the time, and well..." he playfully nudged his older brother. "I'm not dead, so I guess you're doing a fairly good job."

Leo snickered. "Only a fairly good job."

Mikey shrugged again. "There's been some close calls."

Leo shook his head before thinking of another question. "Who's taking care of the restaurant?"

"My two sous chefs will be taking care of the kitchen while my other managers handle the floor. I told them there was a family emergency and I'd be away for a while. So we should be fine."

Leo nodded before they both came to a stop in front of Raph's old home. The brothers took a deep breath before heading up the three stairs to the door. Leo opened it and stepped into the wrecked living room. Sunlight streamed through the windows, giving them plenty of light to see the mess that was left behind.

"Jeez, did we really leave the place looking like this?" Mikey asked running a hand through his blonde locks.

"Well, we were in a bit of a hurry." Leo answered, before moving to at least straighten things up before their guest arrived. First, the brothers flipped the couch so it was sitting the right way. Leo pushed the shattered table out of the way so Mikey could sweep up the glass that was left behind on the floor. Along with the glass and dust, Mikey also swept up some pill capsules. Seeing those again made his stomach turn. Ignoring the sudden knot in his stomach he continued to sweep up the mess and dispose of it. "That should do for now." Leo said as he sat down on the couch.

Mikey took a seat next to him. "Do you think he'll show up?"

"I hope so."

"What about his brother?"

Leo sighed. "I'm not sure. I just want this to go well."

As if on cue, Jonah was seen climbing in through the window to the living room. He was out of his Foot uniform and instead wore a simple t- shirt and jeans. Now that his hair was dry, they could see that his hair was shaved down to a fade all around the sides while the rest of his chestnut brown hair on top was slicked back with gel. Leo immediately noticed the scars marring his arms and silently wondered where they came from. He looked to his two uncles sitting on the couch. "Hey guys, I see you cleaned up a bit."

Neither one of the adults said anything or moved. The silence left Jonah feeling really awkward. He nervously scratched at the at the back of his head. "Well, are either of you going to say anything?"

Leo and Mikey stood up, still unsure. "What do you think Mikey?" Leo asked his younger brother.

Mikey locked his blue eyes with the teenager's bright amber ones, not saying a word. This only made Jonah more nervous and he asked. "What are you doing, Uncle Mikey?" Mikey still didn't say anything. After a few more awkward seconds he spoke again. "You're still really weird." Jonah chuckled trying to cut through the tension.

Mikey gasped quietly and flinched away as if he had been burned. He wasn't really expecting him to say that. There was no denying the fact that this teen did look a lot like Jonah, but that, what he said almost almost confirmed it for him. He wasn't going to let his guard down completely though. Mikey turned away to face a wall as his thoughts continued to race.

"Okay, well I guess you want some answers now, right?" he was back to feeling super awkward so he decided to cut right to the chase.

"Right. We do." Leo answered. "Have a seat."

The teen sat down on the couch and Leo took a seat next to him. "First, I need to know. How can we be sure that you are who you say you are?" Leo, as much as he wanted to believe, was still slightly skeptical.

"I mean, I guess that would be up to you. Wouldn't it?" he shrugged. "I can say anything, but fact of the matter is you have to believe that I am Jonah and not some fake here to mess with you." that's probably not the answer they wanted to hear, but with them being understandably uneasy about this meet up, it may not be the best idea to say anything that would make them more suspicious.

"Okay so, where's your brother?" It was kind of hard not to notice that today and the night before Jonah was without his twin brother.

"He..." Jonah paused. "He won't be joining us." he answered solemnly.

"Why is that?" Leo asked already assuming the worse.

"He's not the same kid that you guys once knew." he looked up into the questioning gaze of his uncle and decided to answer before he asked any more questions. "He's Karai's puppet. Whatever she says, he does. No questions asked. I never wanted this to happen. I wanted to protect him and I did..." Jonah looked down at his scarred arms. "...from most of the physical abuse. I couldn't protect him from the verbal and emotional torment."

"What did she tell you?" Leo asked.

"She kept going on and on about how you didn't care about us, and that if you guys cared, you would have found us by now." Jonah explained. "Anything to make us submit to her. After a while of her telling us the same thing we eventually believed her. I didn't really want to, but it just seemed more likely as the years went by. Aiden is more than convinced that you guys forgot about us. Please tell me that what she was saying wasn't true."

Mikey finally turned and looked back at them. "Of course it's not true!" he snapped, eyes ablaze with a mixture of sadness and fury.

"Mikey." Leo warned when he noticed the teen flinch at the sudden outburst. Mikey turned away from them again with a frustrated and pretty uncharacteristic growl. Leo turned his attention back to Jonah. "What Karai told you wasn't true. We searched everywhere for you, but due to certain circumstances we had to give up on that."

"What happened?"

Jonah sat silently as Leo began retelling the events that happened over the past ten years. From their frantic search to find them, to Olivia's death, leading to a desperate Raph and all of it ending with them finding the burnt bodies of children. Jonah listened and hung on to his every sentence, every word. By the time the story ended he wasn't sure what to feel. He kept his eyes glued to the floor. "Wow... so yesterday when you said that we were dead. That's what you meant?"

Leo's only response was a quiet "Yeah."

"And once that happened, Raph gave up," Mikey spoke up, but this time his voice was quieter and much less aggressive. "on everything, and everyone. He stopped taking care of himself, he won't eat, he can't sleep. It's just been a downward spiral for him since we found those bodies."

Jonah stood up and made his way to the window. Looking out, he watched as the morning commuters walked along the sidewalk. He ran a hand through his brown hair and sighed. _I had a feeling that what Karai said wasn't right, but I had no idea things were this bad. I didn't really think that the Foot would be the main cause as to why our family never showed up. I should've been more suspicious._ he thought. "There's still one thing I need to know, though." he sighed again. "What happened to Mom? How did she die?"

Both adults in the room exchanged looks before Leo spoke up. "She followed your father on one of his searches and a Foot soldier killed her."

Jonah balled his hands into fists, the people he has been working with, killed his mother, sent his father into a spiraling depression and thought that they'd never find out about it. _Those bastards._

"Hey," Leo said, snapping the teen out of his thoughts. "Why is it that your brother is so sure that we abandoned you, but you're more willing to see what happened?"

Jonah unclenched his fists. "Well, a couple of years ago I had overheard a conversation between Karai and her then right hand man." he started. "She said something like 'all the pieces were in place and that those boys will have no choice, but to heed my every word.' That's all I heard and I didn't know what it meant. I just had a gut feeling that something was up. After everything you said to me, I think I'm starting to get a better picture of what actually happened." Jonah reached into his pocket and pulled out the white bottle that he had found yesterday night. "So I'm guessing that Dad was taking this anti- depressant." he tossed the bottle to Leo who caught it easily with one hand.

Leo sighed. "Yeah."

"And do those pills have anything to do with the mess and destruction in here?"

Leo simply nodded.

Jonah had a feeling about what may have happened. "Did he... you know... try to overdose?" At that, both of them remained silent, but Jonah wasn't going to let them stay that way. "Well?"

"Yeah, he did try. Fortunately, we were here to stop it." Mikey said.

"But he fought you the whole time, pretty much explaining why the living room looked like a complete wreck before."

"Yes. I can still feel the glass from the coffee table when he pushed me into it." Mikey gave a small smile. "We got him out of there and just never came back. So it was left like this."

There was a long pause before Jonah spoke up again. "Well, this talk has been quite informative. I think I need some time to fully grasp everything that I learned here today."

Leo stood up off the couch and approached him. "What are you going to do now?"

"Well, first things first, I have to try and explain all of this to Aiden. I don't know if he'll actually sit and listen, but I have to let him know what happened." he turned to his uncles. "I'm sorry. I really, truly am. If I could go back and change everything, I would."

"Well, you're here now. Maybe this will be enough." Mikey said. "Maybe he can see you and you can talk to him."

Jonah smirked. "Does this mean you trust me now, Uncle Mikey?"

"It means that I'm less skeptical." Mikey stubbornly countered, arms crossed over his chest.

Jonah smirked. "I'll take it." Jonah headed for the window that led to the alleyway. "And I'd love to see Dad, but last time I tried to speak to him he didn't really want anything to do with me, it's like he didn't even recognize me."

"He's just going through a lot right now. He's struggling and has been losing touch with reality. He thinks that we don't know and tries to hide it, but it's pretty obvious." Leo said. "Either way, maybe if we slowly re-introduce you to him it could help."

Jonah inhaled deeply. "I'd like that. I'd like to try anyway. Let's make this the meeting place for now. If I can get out. Same time tomorrow." he said and went to open the window.

Leo stopped him before he could make it out. "You know you don't have to take the window. Why don't you take the front door?"

He turned to both of them and smiled sheepishly. "Right, force of habit." he followed his uncles to the front door when he remembered something. "Oh yeah, you guys may want to get the window fixed upstairs in my parents room."

"What happened?"

"Well, last night, Aiden may have gotten a little over zealous and shattered the window when it wouldn't open."

Mikey sighed. "Real subtle, Aiden."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Well, see you guys later?" before they could say anything else, he scurried off out the door, disappearing into the crowd of people on the sidewalk.

Leo and Mikey made their out and headed in the opposite direction. "So?" Leo asked. "What do you think now?"

"I think that he is definitely who he says he is." Mikey answered.

Leo felt like he wanted to say more "But...?" he encouraged.

"But I don't know if I totally believe that everything he said is true. There's still a chance that he could be playing us."

"Come on, Mikey..."

Mikey interrupted before he could continue. "That's just what I think, but I can tell that you think differently, so I trust you."

XXX

 **Okay, now that you read it, here's the question.**

 **Should I add in flashbacks to certain parts in this chapter?**

 **Like when Jonah is talking about overhearing a conversation that Karai was having or showing Raph trying to overdose. This is most likely why this chapter took so long because I couldn't decide which one I wanted to do. I'll leave it for you guys to decide and I'll add in the flashbacks if you want, and I'll leave it if you think it's fine the way it is.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks for the review, Silverfox22. I will keep it the way it is.**

* * *

Chapter 12

Don slowly crept into Raph's dark room. Raph was laying in his usual position. Facing away from him and curled up in a ball. Don made his way over and sat on the edge of the bed. He was never entirely sure what to say to his brother because he would never say anything to him in return unless he was telling him to go away. Don sighed. This was never easy.

Don eventually decided to go with the caretaker approach. After all, that's what he does best. "Hey Raph, you hungry?" he asked, unsure.

He knew in the back of his mind what Raph was going to say, but he really wanted to hear him speak. As expected, Raph responded with a raspy "No."

"Do you want something to drink? Some water maybe?" Don persisted.

"No." he repeated a little bit louder.

"You should really eat something."

At that, Raph curled himself up even more. "No." he stated as defiantly as possible. "Leave me alone, Donnie."

Don ran a hand through his short, brown hair. He thought about giving up and leaving him alone, but he couldn't. The last thing Raph needs is for someone to give up on him, even with the small and simple things like eating. Besides, if it turns out that his sons are truly alive then he's going to want to be at least a little bit healthier. At least that was Don's thought process. Don exhaled softly and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Come on Raph, you need to gain your strength back."

Raph brushed the hand away. "What for?"

Don thought for a second. Should he really bring up the fact that Leo and Mikey went to go meet Jonah? What if it turns out that it wasn't really him? What if it was him and he has no intention of coming back and he had set up a trap for his brothers? And what about Aiden? Leo never really brought him up. If this is real, then what happened to him? Did he die? Either one of these scenarios would break Raph's heart and Don didn't think his older brother could take anymore emotional stress, but he also couldn't lie to him. "Because... we might be paying a little visit to a couple people." Don said, keeping it vague.

This caught Raph's attention. 'Visit a couple people? For what?'

 _ **Maybe they're finally tired of taking care of you, so they're sending you away.**_ The voice in his head was back and as relentless as ever.

"Quiet." Raph muttered.

Don heard this and quietly said his name, but Raph was no longer paying attention to his brother. Curiosity about these visitors were gone, choosing to listen to the dark voice in his head _ **. I told you they'd get sick of taking care of you.**_

"Shut up." he growled. Pressing his hands against his ears in another failed attempt at silencing the voice. "Go away."

The younger brother became worried when he began talking to himself. "Raph..." he gently shook his brother.

Raph seemed startled at the contact and turned toward Donnie. By the sympathetic look in his eyes Raph knew that he had heard his mumbling. So much for keeping that a secret. "Don't look at me like that." Raph said, sitting up.

Don blinked. "Like what?"

"Like that." Raph pointed an accusing finger in his little brother's face. "Like you pity me. I don't need or want your sympathy."

"Raph, I'm just worried about you." Don said.

Raph shook his head. "Well, stop." his dull gaze locked onto a crack in the wall.

"I..."

"When are these visitors coming?" Raph interrupted. He really didn't want yet another pity party. If talking to him would get him to leave faster then he would talk.

"Well, they're not coming here. We'll be going to them." Don assumed. As badly as Leo wanted to believe that his nephews were alive, he wasn't going to bring anyone to the lair. "And we may not get to see them today, but hopefully we will soon. Leo and Mikey went to go meet with them."

Raph looked to Don. "Who are they?" he asked simply.

"You don't need to know that right now." Don responded, unsure of what to say to satisfy him.

 _ **See, they're keeping it from you. They must be trying to get rid of you. Send you off to a crazy house without you knowing.**_

Raph winced as the dark voice was starting to get to him. He wasn't letting this go. "Who are they?" he asked again.

"I..." Don shook his head. "I can't tell you that. Not yet."

Raph was getting very suspicious. The voice in his head was starting to make a lot of sense right now. "Who is it, Don?"

Don stood up. "I really shouldn't say anything because I don't really know the details. You'll just have to wait for Leo and Mkey." he was getting ready to head for the door when he felt Raph grab him by the elbow.

Raph forced himself up out of bed, so he was standing eye to eye with Don. "Tell me what's going on Don. I can handle it."

'I really don't think you can.' Don thought. 'Bringing this up was a mistake. Oh well, no turning back now.' he sighed before speaking out loud to his brother. "Listen Raph, you really don't need to worry about it. We may not even have to see them. I just wanted you to gain some of your strength back in case we do."

 _ **Bullshit. Don't believe him.**_

Raph reached up and clenched onto the collar of Don's shirt. "What are you doing? What are you planning?" he questioned almost desperately. The voice had Raph hanging off his every word. What if they were trying to send him away?

Don could sense that things were escalating more than he had wanted to. "We're not planning anything."

 _ **Liar.**_

"Liar!" Raph yelled becoming frantic. In that instant, Don saw something he hadn't seen in a long time in his brother's eyes. For the first time in years, Don saw flashes of the old Raph. Right now, this wasn't the same sad, cold, glazed over look that he had become so used to. Unfortunately for Don, these were flashes of the old, angry Raphael. The one that would go completely ballistic if someone kept ticking him off. Which was often. "Don't you fucking lie to me!"

"Raph, take it easy." Don tried calming him. He could hear footsteps coming their way. Raph's desperate yell most likely alerted whoever was coming. "No one is lying to you."

"Dad?" Donnie could hear Warren calling him from outside the door, before he opened it. Once he got a glimpse of what was going on, he instinctively stepped forward to help.

"Stay back, Warren." Don ordered without taking his eyes off his brother and Warren obeyed. "Listen Raph..."

"I'm done with your bullshit, Donnie. Who are you talking about? Who did Leo and Mikey go to meet?"

"It's..."

"If you say it's nothing I swear I'll..." Raph started.

"It's Jonah." Warren blurted out trying to keep the brothers from fighting. He wasn't really worried about his father, he was more worried about his uncle. If he got too aggressive then there was no doubt in Warren's mind that his father would take him down and possibly hurt him in the process. Both of the adults turned to him. Warren's breath caught in his throat when Raph glared at him, but he didn't look away.

"What?" Raph growled, he let go of Don and turned his attention toward the teenager. "What did you just say?"

Warren stood his ground and stared at his uncle, confident that nothing would happen. Amber eyes locked onto deep green ones. "I said it's Jonah. Uncle Mikey and Uncle Leo went to see your son."

 _ **They've got their kids trying to lie to you now. Both of your sons are dead. Tell him that. Remind him.**_

"My son. Is. Dead." Raph warned, dangerously. "They are both dead and they're never coming back." tears began to well up in his eyes. He let them fall freely and didn't bother to try and stop them. "Don't talk about them ever again."

Don winced at how easily he said those words, but he couldn't dwell on that at the moment. The now frenzied Raphael was approaching Warren, and the teen looked like he had no intention of going anywhere. Don quickly moved in front of his brother, stopping his advances toward his eldest son. "Raph, stop." he ordered. "Think about what you're doing."

Raph blinked a few times and rubbed his head, letting his fingers run through his chestnut brown hair. It seemed like he was calming down from whatever made him snap in the first place. He turned away from them, wiping the tears from his face. "Get out."

"Uncle Raph, I..." Warren started.

"I said, GET OUT!" Raph snapped.

Donnie flinched and without saying another word, he led his son out to the living area. "I'm sorry Dad." the teen stared at the floor apologetically. He sat down on the old couch with a sigh.

Don shook his head and sat down next to him. "Don't worry about it. I appreciate what you tried to do for me. Just do me a favor." he placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Don't tell your mother about what just happened and from now on, leave your uncle to me."

Warren looked up into his father's worried eyes. "Why did you say it like that?" the way he said this and the look he was giving him, kind of upset him. Did his father think that his uncle would harm him? "You know Uncle Raph wouldn't hurt me, right?"

Don sighed. Normally he'd say that he definitely wouldn't hurt anyone. He wanted so desperately to say those words, but now he wasn't entirely sure. That crazed look in his amber eyes, it made Don remember a time when he and his brothers were teens. They were all here in the lair when Raph had gotten so angry with Mikey that he nearly caved the youngest's head in with a pipe. They were sparring and Mikey had been teasing him relentlessly. Luckily he and Leo were there to stop it, but that didn't change the fact that Raph could've killed Mikey in a blind rage. The same thing could've happened just now with his son and he couldn't risk that. "...I don't think he would." he spoke the exact opposite of what he was thinking. More for Warren than anything else.

But his ever observant son noticed this. "You don't think?" Warren questioned, seeming hurt.

"Warren..."

"No, you said you don't think, that means there is a part of you that believes he would. How can you think that?"

He should've known better than to think he could pull a fast one on his eldest son. "Warren, listen, your uncle is very... unstable right now. There's no telling what he might do. I'm just looking out for your safety."

"You make it seem like he's some sort of maniac." he crossed his arms, glaring daggers at his father.

Don didn't falter. "That's not what I'm trying to say."

"That's how it sounded."

"Warren, trust me when I say that I understand." Don tried reasoning with him. "I understand that you hate seeing him this way, I understand that you just want him to get better. No one wants that to happen more than me, but I also understand that right now things are only going to get worse before they get better. **You** need to understand that." this came off as more of a lecture than he intended, but he had to get his point across.

Warren stood up and without saying another word, he stormed off. Leo and Mikey walked in through the door just in time to see Warren sulking as he headed into the kitchen. They both moved to the couch where their genius brother was rubbing his temples. "What happened, Donnie?" Leo asked.

Don ran a hand through his brown hair and sighed. "There was an incident with Raph and Warren."

"What happened?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "At least, not this time. I couldn't risk him lashing out at Warren like he does with us. And now Warren can't stand the fact that he might be dangerous. Anyway, do you guys have any good news."

"Well, I think so." Mikey said.

"Was it really Jonah?" Don asked quietly so Raph couldn't hear anything if he was actually paying attention.

"I think it is." Mikey said.

Don looked to him questioningly. "Weren't you convinced that this was a trap?"

Mikey half shrugged. "It could still be a trap, we could be getting played. That doesn't change the fact that the person we met up with couldn't be anyone else but Jonah."

* * *

Upstairs, Raph shut the door after his brother and nephew left. As soon as the door closed, he collapsed to his knees. Chest heaving as sobs escaped him. _**You idiot. There's no way they're not sending you away now.**_ Raph didn't bother responding. He just sat there on the cold, hard floor, trying to stop the sobs from escaping. That was easier said then done. He couldn't believe that he even thought about hurting his nephew. _What's wrong with me?_

 ** _You know exactly what's wrong._** _Shut up, I'm not listening anymore. **Don't blame me. You did it.** Yeah, because I listened to you. I could've hurt my nephew because of you. _

Raph forced himself off the floor and headed back to bed. _Leave me alone._ he wrapped his arms around himself _. I won't listen anymore. I can't listen anymore._ those words became almost like a mantra. He kept repeating them over and over in his head. That's what he did for the rest of the night.

* * *

 **There you go, I thought I'd give you a bit more of a Raph breakdown before the big meet up. Hope this is okay and sorry it took so long.**

 **Next chapter, Raph gets to officially see Jonah for the first time in ten years. How will it go? Only I know right now.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The next morning Jonah had gotten up bright and early and began mentally preparing himself for this meet up. He was going to get to see his father, he was going to get to talk to him. Really talk to him this time, without being interrupted by a sudden attack.

Part of him was excited. He wants to see his father, he wants to be able to explain everything that has happened to him over the years and let him know how much he missed him. But a part of him knew that he may not get the response that he so desperately wanted. Hearing the story of what happened in the last ten years and seeing his father's physical and mental condition was enough to enrage him and sadden him. How could he continue working with the people that destroyed his family? He shook his head as he thought. There was no way that Jonah was going to be able to look at Karai the same way.

He sighed and paced the room, trying to figure out what he was going to say to his father when he saw him. He had to somehow convince him that he and his brother were both alive without freaking him out. Easier said than done. He looked down at his watch, it was almost time. He was going to have to wing it.

He headed for the door. Before he could grab the handle to open it, it opened from the other side. Standing on the other side was Aiden. Jonah had honestly forgotten all about telling Aiden anything. When Jonah had gotten back to Foot HQ, he immediately started thinking about how he was going to explain the whole family situation to his little brother. But Aiden was sent on a mission by Karai and he must've just gotten back this morning.

Aiden didn't say anything for a while and just walked passed his twin. "Going out again?" he asked gruffly when he got to his cot.

"Yeah." Jonah answered simply.

"Karai's gonna wanna know what you're doing." Aiden said, brushing strands of brown hair out of his face.

"I know." Jonah kept his answers simple.

Aiden shrugged. "Alright. See ya later."

Jonah stared at his brother's back before leaving the room. He quickly made his way through the building, but before he could make it to the exit, he was stopped. "Jonah." he stiffly turned to face Karai.

He felt his stomach turn at the very sight of her and it took all of his energy to not give her a look of complete disgust. _Easy Jonah, don't let her know that something's up just yet._ he said to himself. "Yes Mistress Karai." he swiftly bowed.

"I have a job for you." she pulled out a photo of the Tropical Lounge. Written on the back, was the address. Karai continued when Jonah gave her a confused look. "You remember this place, don't you? It belongs to Michelangelo."

"You'd like me to check it out?" Jonah asked, assuming that was her thought.

She nodded. "Ask around, see what information you can retrieve on where they are all currently located. They can't hide from us forever."

Jonah plastered on a sly grin. "Find their hideout and smoke them out." he placed the photo in his pocket and headed out without another word. Once he made it outside, he sighed in relief. _Man, I really lucked out this time. It's a good thing that she had a job for me to do. Now it doesn't look so suspicious for me to leave._ he pulled the photo out of his pocket. _Uncle Mikey's restaurant, I wonder how that's holding up?_ he smiled as fond memories raced through his mind of the many ventures to the restaurant with his family.

His family that was once happy, his family that was once whole was now completely destroyed. His mother is dead, his father is suffering mentally and his brother seemed to be beyond convincing that everything Karai said was completely untrue. He knew that Aiden wouldn't rest until the rest of the Hamato family was dead.

Jonah shook the thoughts from his mind. He would have to deal with his twin later. Right now, he had to focus on his father. He quickly blended in with the people on the crowded sidewalk and headed for his old home.

* * *

The morning was a process for the brothers. Waking Raph up to get him dressed was easy enough, but once they tried to coax him into the car in the garage he started fighting back a bit. "I don't want to go." he said to his brothers. "Don't make me. Don't send me away." he practically begged.

Leo, Don and Mikey had to stop at that. Don sat down on the bed next to him. "No one is sending you away, Raph. We would never do that to you." he gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's just someone that we want you to meet. Someone that can hopefully help you better than we can."

Raph shook his head solemnly. "Don't lie to me. You can't help me." he stated in a monotone voice. "No one can help me."

"But it can't hurt to try, right?" Mikey asked.

Raph was still unsure of what to make of this. Before he could refuse again, Leo interjected. "Tell you what, if you feel like talking is not helping you or if you feel uncomfortable then we'll leave. Give it a shot. What've you got to lose."

Raph eyed his brothers. All three stared back with an almost desperate look. Raph took a deep breath. "Fine, I'll go."

With a sigh of relief they led Raph to the garage. Don looked over by the couch where the kids were lounging. Luke and Kayla were lying on the floor, coloring in some old coloring books they found. Jayden and Ethan played video games while Nicole and Warren watched. Warren made eye contact with his father for a moment before turning away with a sigh.

The adults continued on their way. "Where are they headed?" Nicole questioned, nosily.

Warren shrugged. "Who knows." he said, noticeably frustrated.

"Probably going where they went yesterday." Jayden stated, not taking his eyes off his game.

"And where's that?" Ethan asked.

Warren decided to keep his mouth shut about that considering he was the only one that knew where they were yesterday. No use getting their hopes up. He just shrugged again. "Who knows."

* * *

The drive was pretty much silent, making it much longer than it actually was. Leo did the driving, Don sat in the passenger seat and Mikey sat in the back with Raph. Mikey could only rub comforting circles on his brother's back as he stared blankly out the window. Leo turned down a familiar block and Raph suddenly snapped to attention. "Where are you taking me?" he asked.

"To meet up with someone who can help you." Leo said vaguely.

"Where?" he asked again. Before anyone could respond, they came to a stop in front of Raph's old home. He shook his head, panicking. "No. Not here." the last thing he wanted was to go back where this all started. Go back where his kids were taken from him and where he later found their burned bodies. "Anywhere, but here."

"Easy Raph, I know this is going to be hard, but this is the only place where we can meet right now." Mikey explained.

That didn't stop the panic from settling in. "I can't. I-I won't." he refused to leave the car.

Leo stepped out of the car and moved to the back where Raph was sitting. He crouched down next to him and spoke gently. "Raph, I know coming back here scares you, but I swear we wouldn't have brought you here if we had any other choice. Like I told you earlier, if you feel uncomfortable then we can leave. Right now, you've got to trust us, okay. "

 _ **Don't trust them. They're trying to trick you.**_ Raph squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push the voice away. _I want to trust them. I'm going to trust them._ He told the voice. He opened his eyes, looked to the oldest and nodded. He stepped out of the car and walked to the front door. Each step was harder to take as he got closer. _**Don't let them hurt you like this.**_ Raph shook his head and kept repeating the same sentences in his head. _I won't listen anymore. I can't listen anymore._

Leo opened the door and Raph hesitantly stepped inside. It seemed so different from what he remembered. Without asking any questions, he wandered over to the couch and sat down. Seconds later, there was a knock at the door.

Don answered it and saw Jonah standing on the stoop. He looked surprised before a smile spread across his face. "Hey, Uncle Don." he greeted nervously.

Don looked just as surprised as Jonah did. He could tell it was Jonah just by looking at him. He looked just like him. He stood there examining him for a while, taking in every detail. "It's really you."

It was more of a statement than a question, as if there was no doubt in his mind that the teen standing in front of him was one of his long lost nephews. Still, Jonah felt the need to answer anyway. "Um... yeah, it is." he stepped inside, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "How have you been?"

"Okay, I suppose." Don shrugged then placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Just glad to have you back."

Jonah smiled. "Feels good to be back." he looked over to his father. Raph was just sitting there and it looked like he was mouthing something to himself. "How's he doing?"

"Not great." Mikey said. "You ready?"

Jonah took a deep breath. "I can't say that I am. I'm really nervous. I spent all morning trying to figure out what I was going to say to him, but nothing seemed like it would work. So I just decided to wing it and see what happens."

"Good luck." Leo said. "We'll give you guys some privacy."

"Thanks." he made his way toward Raph and sat down. "Hey." Jonah said simply. Raph didn't even look up at him. He was still muttering to himself. Jonah took a chance and gently touched his shoulder. The physical contact seemed to snap him out of it. He finally looked up at him, but he didn't speak. He looked confused.

He shrugged the hand off his shoulder, sliding further away from his son. "What do you want?"

"I-" he thought for a second. "I just want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About you. How you've been and all that."

Raph glared daggers his way. "What do you care?"

Jonah smirked. "I care more than you think."

"Who even are you?" Raph growled.

Jonah winced. He was hoping to avoid this question for a little while longer. "...I'm Jonah." Raph responded by narrowing his eyes. "Do you recognize me?" the teen asked, hoping he did.

Raph really got a good look at him. His hardened glare softened a bit. _He looks like my-._ _**NO! It's not him. He's gone. Your brothers are trying to trick you. Don't fall for it.**_ Raph shook his head and looked away.

Jonah sighed. "I understand. It's been ten years and you've been through a lot."

"You don't know anything about me. You're just some kid."

"I know that you had a family. A wife and two twin boys. I also know that they were taken away from you by the Foot Clan as an act of vengeance."

Raph looked back up at the teenage boy, confused. _How does this kid know about the Foot?_ _ **It's a trap. He's part of the Foot Clan and he's here to finish you off, just like your wife and sons.**_ An involuntary shudder shook him. _Or, my brothers told him. I shouldn't be listening to you. Leave me alone._ "How do you know about that?" he asked out loud.

"Well, that's what I was told." he looked to his uncles who were chatting quietly among themselves in the kitchen.

Raph sent a glare toward his brothers. They couldn't see it, they weren't paying any attention. "It doesn't matter anyway. It happened, they're gone now."

"But what if they're not?" Jonah asked before he could stop himself.

A low growl escaped him. "They are. I saw it with my own eyes."

Jonah stiffened a little, but he pushed forward. "From what I heard, you only saw your wife die." he cringed at the thought of his deceased mother. He had to fight to keep from choking up. "But you never saw your sons' death."

"I saw the bodies. That's all the proof I need."

"But that's just it Da- Raphael." Jonah quickly corrected himself. He wasn't ready to reveal the truth to him just yet, not while there is still room for denial in his mind. "You saw bodies, but you didn't see them die, with your own eyes. I know this is a tough topic for you to talk about, but you have to know..."

"Shut up!" Raph yelled, alerting his brothers and making Jonah flinch. "Just shut up! You don't know what you're talking about." he felt tears well up in his eyes. "They're gone."

"Alright." Jonah held his hands up to try and diffuse the situation. "They are, but what if they were still alive and waiting for you to come save them? Save them from a life of abuse and beatings." Jonah kept talking, without really thinking. "Save them from a life of killing. What if they are just waiting for you to hold them again like you used to? What if..."

Raph suddenly stood up off the couch. The thought of his sons being beaten and having to kill people was making him sick. "Stop, please."

Jonah stood up with him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted you to know that not everything is as it seems." he slowly backed away from him, toward his uncles. He sighed sadly and looked to his uncles with a shrug. "I tried."

Raph's mind wandered. _Not everything is as it seems. What if he's telling the truth?_ Raph thought hopefully. _**You know he's not. It's impossible for your sons to be alive.**_ _What if it's not? Why would he be telling me this if it wasn't possible?_ _**To throw you into a false sense of security.**_ _But he said his name was Jonah and that kid looks just like my son. This would be the right age for him too. It could be him._ _**That's wishful thinking.**_ _Maybe... but I have to see for myself._

Raph turned to the group just as the teenager was about to walk out the door. "Wait." Raph spoke softly. Everyone turned to him. "Who are you?"

Jonah responded the same way he did last time. "I'm Jonah."

"No, not your name. I want to know who you are."

Jonah looked to his uncles as if looking for a sign that it was a good idea to bring it up. When they nodded, he turned back to his father. "Well, I'm your son." he stated quickly.

Raph flinched slightly. "You're... r-really?" he stuttered.

Jonah nodded. "Hey, Dad."

Raph ran a hand through his hair, trying to decide whether or not this was truly real. In the end, he decided that he didn't care. Without much warning, he pulled Jonah in, wrapping his emaciated arms around him.

Jonah was shocked by the sudden move. His whole body tensed up at first, but soon relaxed as he hugged his father back. He felt something wet hit his shoulder and knew that his father was in tears. All he could think of was to hold on tighter.

 _ **This is a mistake.**_ The voice in Raph's head ground out. _It might be... and he could be fooling us._ He held his son tighter. _But even if this is some sort of trick. Even if this isn't real, just let me at least pretend that it is. Please, just let me have this._ He waited for a response.

And he didn't get one.

* * *

Ending on a happier note.


End file.
